Marketing officials from Spain's champion side Real Madrid said today that the team will pull in eight million euros ($13.8m) from their jaunt through Asia.

The star-heavy club, to be showcasing new signing David Beckham, stands to earn about two million euros per exhibition match during its four-country tour, said Stephan Attia, chief of Real's marketing partner Asia Sports Development.

Real Madrid, home to superstars Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Raul Gonzalez, kicked off their money-spinning tour Friday in China's southwestern Yunnan province.

Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand follow after a multimillion-dollar pre-season match in Beijing on August 2 against a Chinese all-star side.

"The exact figure for Beijing is about two million euros," Attia told AFP.

For their week-long stay at a high altitude training ground in Kunming, the team will earn a handsome 700,000 euros, courtesy of the provincial and city governments.

The Hongta Group, a state-owned cigarette maker that also owns Chinese A-league club Yunnan Hongta, is providing Real with the free training facilities and five-star accommodation.

Madrid were scheduled to face the Malaysian national team on August 10, but the match was scrapped because the nine-time European champs wanted too much money.

"The valuation of the business plan was about 2.5 million dollars," Attia said.

He said the Asian Football Confederation had agreed to the proposed one-time match fee before Real pulled out of the agreement.

"We were working with a company and proposed the same revenue-sharing deal we did in Beijing and Tokyo, Thailand and Hong Kong," he said.

"They offered us at the last minute one million dollars, so we said no, sorry," Attia said of axed deal.

Real's demands prompted Asia football chief Peter Velappan to last week describe the team as "bloodsuckers" and "mercenaries," accusing them of demanding three times more than other clubs in appearance fees for their Asian tour.

"We have been bringing teams from all over the world to Asia for the past 20 to 25 years, never have I come across a team claiming such exorbitant fees," the secretary general of the Asian Football Confederation said.

Attia responded: "We are very disappointed with the general secretary ... it's not the way for a football official to talk and to call us 'mercenaries' and 'bloodsuckers."'

"We know what we are, we know what we are doing, we have nothing to hide," he added.

"He can call us whatever he wants."

Thailand is to replace Malaysia, sending a national side onto the pitch against Real on August 10.

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