Man City, Inter, Chelsea and Juve to face off pre-season in Hong Kong
The match will kick off the 'Hong Kong Football Festival' at the city's futuristic 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium
English and Italian football giants Manchester City, Chelsea, Inter Milan, and Juventus will square off in pre-season friendlies in Hong Kong in August, the clubs announced today (21 April).
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, currently locked in a title race with Arsenal for the Premier League crown, will take on Inter Milan on Saturday, August 1, spearheaded by their Norwegian goal machine Erling Haaland.
The match will kick off the "Hong Kong Football Festival" at the city's futuristic 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium.
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The gleaming arena opened a year ago, featuring a roof that can be closed and air conditioning to combat the fierce summer heat and humidity in Hong Kong.
Chelsea will play Juventus on Wednesday, August 5, to round off the mini-tournament.
Inter, under former Romanian international Cristian Chivu, are eight points clear at the top of Serie A as they look for a 21st title, second only to Juventus, who have won a record 36 Italian top-flight championships.
Juventus are fourth and looking to secure a Champions League spot under Luciano Spalletti.
Chelsea beat PSG to win the Club World Cup in the United States last year but have since parted ways with then-manager Enzo Maresca.
Liam Rosenior has taken charge but is under pressure to keep his job after Chelsea lost five of their last six Premier League matches, dropping to sixth, seven points adrift of the Champions League places.
It remains to be seen whether Rosenior will still be in charge when Chelsea arrive in Hong Kong, as they were also drubbed 8–2 on aggregate by PSG in the Champions League round of 16.
All the teams will hold open training sessions ahead of the matches, giving Hong Kong fans an extra chance to see star players such as City's Erling Haaland, Chelsea's Cole Palmer, Inter's Lautaro Martínez, and Juventus's Dušan Vlahović.
The action does not stop there for fans in the football-mad southern Chinese city, as Bayern Munich and Aston Villa have already announced they will play a friendly in Hong Kong on Friday, August 7.
During pre-season last year, 50,000-strong sell-out crowds in Hong Kong watched Liverpool play AC Milan and Tottenham face Arsenal in the first North London derby outside the UK.
Tens of thousands also turned out to watch the teams' open training sessions.
