Manchester United and Liverpool will begin a packed pre-season next week as European clubs return to the Asia-Pacific for the first time since the pandemic, keen to return to lucrative markets.
The English Premier League heavyweights face off in Bangkok on Tuesday for the first game against Jurgen Klopp’s side of new United manager Erik ten Haag, which saw a historic loss last season before Manchester City lost the Premier League crown and lost the Champions League. Threatened to win quadruple. Final for Real Madrid.
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Paris Saint-Germain and their superstar players Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe will travel to Japan later this month with a new manager, Christophe Gaultier, who will replace Mauricio Pochettino following his appointment this week.
Tottenham Hotspur and Premier League Golden Boot winner Son Heung-min, Asia’s most successful player, are set to be given a warm welcome when they play two matches in South Korea next week.
And Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Leeds United will fly to Singapore and Australia as clubs reconnect with their global fans from 2020 due to virus restrictions.
“It has been a very challenging time for all clubs over the past two years,” said Sebastian Wessels, managing director of PSG Asia-Pacific, whose club will play three matches against J-League sides.
“We know it was difficult for our fans around the world not to have the opportunity to see the team.”
Thai fans of Liverpool and Manchester United will have an unprecedented chance to see historic rivals at their doorstep when they meet at the 51,000-capacity Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok.
But many will be disappointed to wake up on Friday to news that a troubled Cristiano Ronaldo will not travel with United as the striker was given extra time to deal with a family issue.
Asia’s biggest match
Asian sports marketing specialist Marcus Luer, who brokered the deal to bring the teams to Thailand, said the game would be “the biggest football match ever in Asia, none”.
“There is no Korean pop band, or any other football club for that matter, that will be bigger than those two clubs that come here,” he said.
Fans will pay a heavy price to see their heroes like Liverpool’s Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk or United’s Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire, with the cheapest tickets selling for 5,000 baht ($140).
Manchester United fan Bhuvit Panjaratnakorn, 27, said he was looking forward to taking pictures of players at his hotel, but did not plan to buy tickets as they were “too expensive”.
“It’s just a friendly match and it doesn’t guarantee that you will see a player like Cristiano Ronaldo play the entire match,” he said.
Manchester United will leave for Australia after the game, where they will play Melbourne Victory, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa.
Liverpool will face Crystal Palace in Singapore, while Leeds United and Villa will compete against local team Brisbane Roars in the Queensland Champions Cup in Australia.
Tottenham, who captain both South Korea’s men’s and women’s national teams, will take on the K-League selection team in Seoul and Spain’s Sevilla in Suwon.
fat chance
Luer says the fact that European teams will face each other instead of playing a local side means it will look like a “properly competitive match”.
“Liverpool and Manchester United play each other in the third match of the Premier League season, so it’s not too far off,” he said.
“If you’re a coach or a player, this is a great opportunity to get in gear and see where you are.”
Business opportunities are important as clubs seek to build their brand in an area that, says Luer, is “still very important for any football club in the world”.
PSG is returning to Japan for the first time since 1995 but has an office in Tokyo and is active there in retail, export and fashion.
Wessels describes Japan as a “strategic country” with six million fans for PSG, and says this summer’s tour is “the final piece of the puzzle”.
“Since the launch of our project, Japan has always been very central to what we wanted to achieve in terms of brand development,” he said.
“We will have top players and not a B team because I heard some fans in Japan were disappointed when some clubs came without top stars,” he said.
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