Filipino boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao will make a rare visit to Dubai this weekend as he headlines a new basketball event in the emirate. Here are the details. A Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) event – the competition’s first trip to the Middle East. Pacquiao, boxing’s only eight-division champion and a sitting senator in his homeland, launched the MPBL in 2017, which has since grown from 10 teams to 31. Semi-professional, it is not yet as popular as the Philippines Basketball Association (PBA). September 27-28, from 4pm. Hamdan Sports Complex, Dubai An avid basketball fan, Pacquiao will feature in an exhibition match on each day of the action, with three MPBL teams - inaugural champions Batangas City Athletics, Imus Bandera and Davao Occidental Tigers - contesting regular-season games across the two days. Other celebrities in action during the event include one-time PBA league MVP Jayjay Helterbrand, Filipino-American actor Gerald Anderson and Derek Ramsay, the British-born Filipino actor. Pacquiao’s brother, Bobby, will also be competing. Organisers expect up to 15,000 spectators on each of the days. Tickets can be found at <a href="https://www.meraticket.com/uae/dubai">meraticket.com</a>. They begin at Dh50.