Bayern Munich and Aston Villa will bring down the curtain on a week of football in Hong Kong this summer, which will also feature English giants Manchester City and Chelsea, and Italian duo Inter Milan and Juventus.
In a statement on Friday, the Bundesliga and Premier League teams said they will face each other at the Kai Tak Stadium on August 7 in the Audi Football Conference.
And although it has not been officially confirmed, sources have told the South China Morning Post that as part of the second Hong Kong Football Festival, Manchester City and Inter will play at the stadium on August 1, with Juventus and Chelsea meeting four days later.
All clubs are believed to be committed to bringing in their stars, although who comes will depend on this summer’s World Cup. Players are guaranteed a three-week break after participating in the championship in Canada, Mexico and the United States; and with the semi-finals scheduled for July 14 and 15, the qualification of the final four teams will eliminate some people.
England and Germany fans will be hoping that means they won’t see the likes of Harry Kane and Bayern’s Serge Gnabry, but the German club have vowed that the best available players will be part of the squad for the pre-season tour which also includes a game against South Korea’s Jeju United on August 4.
“Knowing that we have a lot of players from the national teams of Germany, France and England, as well as Korea and Japan, surely some of these players will reach the next stages,” Rouven Kasper, Bayern’s chief marketing officer, told SCMP. “Who plays here or not will be in the hands of their national teams.”
