By Paul Nicholson
July 2 – With a number of English Premier League clubs now only two weeks away from their pre-season trips to Asia, Nike have announced that they will release their most “advanced football ever”, the Ordem 3, at the Barclays Asia Trophy 2015 in Singapore. Meanwhile Liverpool have released have released a final batch of tickets for their four match friendly schedule.
The Nike Ordem 3 is the official ball of the 2015/16 season in the Barclays Premier League, La Liga BBVA and Serie A TIM, and went on sale globally yesterday.
It is mark of the stature of the Premier League’s annual pre-season four team tournament that Nike has chosen the event as the official release of the ball. This will be the seventh edition of the Barclays Asia Trophy and the first time it has been played in Singapore.
Arsenal, Everton, Stoke City and a Singapore Select XI making up the four-team contest. The first match will be Everton v Stoke City on 15 July at the National Stadium, in Singapore. Arsenal will follow on against the Singapore Select XI. The winners of these two games will play off on July 18 for the trophy, while the losers will face each other in another double-header at the National Stadium.
Stoke City have signed a one-off shirt sponsorship deal for the tournament replacing usual sponsor Bet365 because of regulations prohibiting advertising of online gambling in Singapore. Instead they have agreed with the Asian Football Confederation to support the One Goal child malnutrition campaign.
Ticket sales are reportedly strong with match day tickets covering both the games for the day they are bought.
Meanwhile Liverpool have announced a final release of tickets for their pre-season tour of Bangkok, Brisbane, Adelaide and Kuala Lumpur, which kicks off against a Thai All Stars team on July 14.
Liverpool then move on to Australia playing the Brisbane Roar on July 17, Adelaide United FC on July 20, before returning via Kuala Lumpur and playing a Malaysia XI on July 24. Liverpool have added a further friendly fixture to their pre-season schedule, playing HJK Helsinki in Finland on August 1.
Liverpool will tour with new signings, James Milner and Danny Ings. £29 million new signing Brazilian Roberto Firmino and £12.5 million Daniel Clyne have not been confirmed as being part of the tour as yet.
Billy Hogan, Chief Commercial Officer, Liverpool Football Club, said: “The tour fixtures are a wonderful opportunity for fans to see the team up close no matter how far away from Anfield they live and we are delighted to be able to make this a reality for our global fan base.”
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