English Premier League giants Chelsea will play the A-League’s Perth Glory in a friendly next year in the team’s only Australian appearance, officials said Sunday.
The match will take place in late July or early August at Perth’s new 65,000-capacity stadium, Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett said in a statement.
Officials are hopeful Antonio Conte’s side — the 2014-15 Premier League champions and current league leaders — will attract fans from across the island continent and from Asia.
« This is an enormous opportunity for not only football fans, but sport fans in general, from around the nation and the Asia-Pacific region, to witness one of the best and biggest clubs in the world to play in our own backyard, » Glory’s chief executive Peter Filopoulos said.
There has been a growing trend of top clubs choosing Australia as a warm-up destination.
Arsenal, currently second behind Chelsea in the EPL standings, are playing two pre-season friendlies in Sydney this year.
A string of other clubs including Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid have visited Australia in recent years.
Perth Glory are currently fifth on the A-League table.
London club Chelsea — owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich — last played in Sydney in 2015, the club’s first game in the country for 41 years.
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