91Èȱ¬

Paul McGinley will again captain the Great Britain and Ireland team for September's Vivendi Seve Trophy at St-Nom-la-Bretèche, Paris.

The 44-year-old, who skippered the team to victory in 2009, faces a Continental Europe side led by Jean Van de Velde.

The match carries extra significance following the death in May of the great Seve Ballesteros, who helped launch the biennial event in 2000.

European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal selected the two skippers.

Olazabal, a great friend and former Ryder Cup team-mate of Ballesteros, revealed that Open champion Darren Clarke was a candidate for the non-playing role as Great Britain & Ireland skipper until his memorable win at Sandwich last month.

McGinley, who was an assistant to Colin Montgomerie in the triumphant 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor, led Great Britain and Ireland two years ago on the same St-Nom-la-Breteche course that will be used for this year's Seve Trophy.

"It's a great honour to be invited back as captain, and it's something that I'm really looking forward to," said the Dubliner, who is in contention to skipper the European Ryder Cup team at Gleneagles in 2014.

"I enjoyed it enormously last time, so I was delighted to be asked again.

I'm looking forward to going up against Jean, and it's good to have a Frenchman involved on French soil, because that's important for the future of the tournament. With the excitement of France being awarded the Ryder Cup, I'm sure the event will be well supported.

"Obviously with Seve's sad passing earlier this year, there will be added poignancy, particularly with José Maria being involved. Two years ago Seve was in our thoughts, both in the team room and outside. I'm sure he'll be looking down on us, and hopefully we can put on an event worthy of him."

Thomas Bjorn led the European side in 2009 but after earlier this season the Dane is all set to return to a playing role.

Van de Velde was part of the victorious Continental Europe team in the inaugural event in 2000, and the 45-year-old, who has played on the European Tour for 23 years, said: "I was privileged to be part of a winning team captained by Seve.

"Captaining the Continental Europe side will be a completely new experience for me and I am honoured to be nominated for the role by José Maria at a venue I know so well in St- Nom- la Bretèche, where I played my first Trophée Lancôme in 1989."

A clash with the FedEx Cup play-offs in America may result in a number of players being unavailable for the 15-18 September event.