Manchester United and Liverpool will begin a jam-packed preseason next week as European clubs make their first trip back to the Asia-Pacific region following the pandemic, eager to reclaim lucrative markets. TOKYO.
The English Premier League’s top teams square off against Jurgen Klopp’s team on Tuesday in Bangkok. Last season, Jurgen Klopp’s team threatened to win a historic quadruple before being edged out by Manchester City for the league title and losing the Champions League final to Real Madrid.
After Christophe Galtier was named manager of Paris Saint-Germain this week to replace Mauricio Pochettino, PSG will travel to Japan later this month with superstar players Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe.
When Tottenham Hotspur and Son Heung-min, Asia’s most successful player and the Premier League Golden Boot winner, play two games in South Korea the following week, they can expect a thunderous reception.
In addition, after being grounded by virus restrictions since 2020, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, and Leeds United will fly to Singapore and Australia to re-connect with their international supporters.
Sebastien Wasels, managing director of PSG’s Asia-Pacific region, said that the past two years have been “very difficult for all clubs.” PSG will play three games against J-League teams.
“We are aware that it was challenging for our fans around the world to miss the chance to see the team,”
When Liverpool and Manchester United square off in Bangkok’s 51,000-seat Rajamangala Stadium, Thai fans of both teams will have an unprecedented opportunity to witness the legendary rivalry on their own turf.
However, many people will be disappointed to learn on Friday morning that an uneasy Cristiano Ronaldo won’t be travelling with United because the striker was given more time off to attend to a family matter.
The game will be “the single biggest football match ever hosted in Asia, bar none,” according to Asian sport marketing expert Marcus Luer, who negotiated the agreement to bring the teams to Thailand.
No other football club, or Korean pop band, would be more significant than those two clubs coming here, he claimed.
The cheapest tickets cost an eye-watering 5,000 baht ($140), making it prohibitively expensive for fans to see players like United’s Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire or Liverpool’s Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk in action.
Bhuwit Panjarattanakorn, a 27-year-old fan of Manchester United, said he was excited to photograph the players at their hotel but decided not to purchase a ticket because they were “too expensive.”
Even before it was revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo wouldn’t be travelling to Bangkok for the friendly match, he said, “It’s just a friendly match and it doesn’t guarantee you’d see a player like Cristiano Ronaldo playing the whole match.”
After the game, Manchester United will travel to Australia to take on Melbourne Victory, Crystal Palace, and Aston Villa.
While Leeds United and Villa will compete in the Queensland Champions Cup in Australia alongside the local team Brisbane Roar, Liverpool will take on Crystal Palace in Singapore.
Tottenham, who are sponsored by the men’s and women’s national team captains of South Korea, will play a K-League select team in Seoul and Sevilla of Spain in Suwon.
It will be more like a “proper competitive match,” according to Luer, because European teams will play each other rather than competing against local teams.
The third Premier League game of the year features a match between Liverpool and Manchester United, so it’s not too far off, he said.
This is a great chance for the coach and players to get going and assess their situation.
In order for clubs to establish their brands in a region that Luer claims is “still very important for any football club in the world,” commercial opportunities are essential.
PSG is visiting Japan for the first time since 1995, but they already have a Tokyo office and are active in the city’s fashion, esports, and retail industries.
Wasels calls Japan a “strategy country” with six million PSG supporters and claims this summer’s tour is “the final piece of the puzzle.”
Japan has always been a top priority for us in terms of brand development since the beginning of our project, he said.
We will bring the best players, not a B team, as I’ve heard some people have suggested.
