Pre-season soccer friendlies for the biggest European Clubs have taken on a markedly different shape in recent years and Ireland has successfully pitched to be part of the biggest organised collection of matches in 2016.
The game between Barcelona and Celtic at the Aviva Stadium on July 30th has now been added to by Celtic taking on Inter Milan, in a repeat of the 1967 European Cup Final, in Thomond Park in Limerick on August 13th.
Both games are part of the International Champions’ Cup, a series of linked tournaments taking place this year includes Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Leicester City FC, AC Milan, FC Bayern Munich, FC Barcelona, Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC, Inter Milan, and Celtic FC.
The 19 different venues at which matches will be played include the Birds Nest National Stadium in Beijing, Wembley Stadium, Soldier Field in Chicago and the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia.
Tournament sponsors include McDonalds, Under Armour and Uber and with the schedule of the biggest teams and players increasingly controlled centrally the fact that Ireland is on the venue list is a major coup.
Ticket sales will need to be high to maintain that spot though as US venues have attracted over 100,000 spectators in the past. The Limerick game was only added to the schedule this week but sales are reported to be going very well for the Aviva Stadium game next week.
Celtic’s Champions’ League progress would need to continue tonight after last week’s blip against the champions of Gibraltar but their presence in the two games does secure a base of supporters here that most League of Ireland clubs would give their eye teeth for.
