One other preseason Clasico, Barcelona-Actual Madrid, coming to U.S. this summer time
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In what has turn into a burgeoning, money-making custom, FC Barcelona and Actual Madrid will carry their famend rivalry to the USA for a second consecutive summer time.
They’ll play El Clasico, as its identified, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on July 29, as a part of the second-year Soccer Champions Tour.
It is going to be a preseason match, in fact. The tour — which may also function Manchester United, Arsenal, Juventus and AC Milan — will not be a match like a few of its predecessors had been. It’s basically eight one-off video games, smack-dab in the course of the Ladies’s World Cup, billed by organizers as a “summer time collection” that may span California, Las Vegas, Texas and Florida.
However the headliner is the sport of all video games, maybe the world’s most celebrated sporting rivalry, on the grandiose stadium of all grandiose stadiums, Jerry World, the 105,000-seat dwelling of the Dallas Cowboys that aspires to host the 2026 World Cup remaining.
El Clasico involves the U.S.
When Barca and Madrid first introduced their blood feud to the U.S. in 2017, the idea was ridiculed by some purists; however the exhibition sport, at Arduous Rock Stadium in Miami, was a roaring success. The Miami Clasico drew 1.7 million viewers on ESPN platforms and a sellout crowd keen to pay a number of a whole lot of {dollars} apiece for tickets. Gamers competed, genuinely. A 3-2 Barcelona win thrilled all people concerned.
It felt, on the time, like a watershed second for the Worldwide Champions Cup, the preseason occasion that grew to 18 groups and 27 video games unfold throughout 9 nations late final decade. In early 2020, organizers had been in negotiations to inaugurate Southern California’s SoFi Stadium with a second stateside Clasico that summer time.
However then got here COVID-19. The ICC canceled its 2020 programming, fizzled throughout the pandemic, and devolved right into a authorized dispute between its dad or mum firm, Relevent Sports activities, and its mastermind, the legendary soccer promoter Charlie Stillitano. The lads’s ICC has not been performed since.
Relevent nonetheless runs a girls’s ICC and different ventures. This summer time, it’s working with England’s Premier League and Spain’s La Liga on two separate North American excursions. However in 2022, the Soccer Champions Tour swooped in for Barca and Madrid, and arranged a Clasico at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. (Barca received, 1-0, in entrance of a boisterous, sellout crowd.)
In its second 12 months, the Soccer Champions Tour has expanded to function two golf equipment every from Spain, England and Italy. Sixth Road, a worldwide funding agency that has partnered with each Barca and Actual Madrid, is the corporate behind it. AEG is producing it. Legends is a key associate. And Stillitano, in keeping with a supply with data of the tour’s evolution, has been concerned as a advisor.
Preseason tour schedules
The Soccer Champions Tour introduced its full 2023 slate Friday:
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Saturday, July 22: Barcelona vs. Juventus — Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, California
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Sunday, July 23: Actual Madrid vs. AC Milan — Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California
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Wednesday, July 26: Arsenal vs. Barcelona — SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California
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Wednesday, July 26: Actual Madrid vs. Manchester United — NRG Stadium, Houston
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Thursday, July 27: Juventus vs. AC Milan — Dignity Well being Sports activities Park, Carson, California
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Saturday, July 29: Barcelona vs. Actual Madrid — AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
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Tuesday, August 1: AC Milan vs Barcelona — Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas
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Wednesday, August 2: Juventus vs. Actual Madrid — Tenting World Stadium, Orlando
Kickoff occasions haven’t but been decided. Of their Friday information launch, organizers mentioned that “the matches stay topic to approval by the related soccer authorities,” however that’s probably a formality.
Individually, Arsenal and Manchester United have organized a preseason pleasant at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 22. United can be set to play Wrexham on July 25 in San Diego — presumably with a reserve crew, as a result of in the future later, it’s now scheduled to play Actual Madrid in Houston. It then performs Borussia Dortmund on July 30 in Vegas.
Arsenal may also play the MLS All-Stars on July 19 in Washington, D.C.
The Premier League’s personal “summer time collection” will function Chelsea, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Fulham, Brighton and Brentford, with video games in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Orlando, New Jersey and Maryland.
