April 29 – Manchester United have released dates for their pre-season tour to the US this summer as well as changes to the opponents they had initially said they will face in the ‘International Champions Cup’.
Last year Man Utd competed with AS Roma, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Liverpool for the title. This year they will play Spain’s Barcelona, France’s Paris Saint-Germain, Mexican giants Club America, and San Jose Earthquakes from the MLS.
The Tour 2015, ‘presented by’ Man Utd sponsor Aon, opens at Seattle’s 67,000-capacity CenturyLink Field July 17. Next match is against San Jose Earthquakes July 21 (venue still to be announced), before Man Utd faces off against the two European giants of Barca and PSG.
Man Utd play Barcelona at Santa Clara’s Levi’s Stadium on July 25. Levi’s Stadium is the home of NFL’s Fan Francisco 49ers and was only opened in July 2014. It has a capacity of 68,500.
The Man Utd matches conclude against Paris Saint-Germain on July 29 at the Chicago’s 61,500-capacity Soldier Field. The Club is very familiar with the city having first visited Chicago in the summer of 1950.
All the venues being used have more than 60,000 capacities and venue organisers are expecting sell-outs. The tour in 2014 set a US record for a football (soccer) match in the US when 109,318 spectators piled into The Big House in Michigan to watch Man Utd beat real Madrid 3-1 last August.
Manchester United Group Managing Director, Richard Arnold, said: “Manchester United has a great history of visiting these US cities, creating memorable experiences for players and fans that date back as far as the 1950s. Tour 2015, presented by Aon, will allow the team to train at some of the best facilities in the world and play in front of thousands of passionate US supporters at first-class stadiums.
“After this month’s Manchester derby broke records to become the most-watched Premier League match is US cable television history, the Club is excited to be returning to the United States at a time when the appetite for football is greater than ever.”
This year’s International Champions Cup will be decided via a league format with each team playing four matches and the club with the most points at the end of the tournament will be crowned champions.
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