Spanish La Liga’s prestigious Barcelona is planning to visit South Korea for the first time in 14 years.
“Barcelona will play a friendly match in Seoul at the end of the season to generate revenue,” Spanish media outlet Sport reported on Sept. 29 (KST).
Barcelona, along with Real Madrid, are two of the biggest clubs in the Spanish La Liga. In the past, the club has dominated Europe with world-class star players such as Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, and Andreas Iniesta, and has a large number of fans in Korea.
Barcelona is currently in the process of finalizing the 2023-24 season, and the news that the club is planning to step foot on Korean soil as soon as the season ends has caught our attention.
“Barcelona decided to play post-season friendlies in order to generate huge income,” the outlet explained, “Klopp planned to organize the matches in the last week of May and finally succeeded in getting the team to play a friendly in South Korea.”
“The friendlies will be played between May 26, when the league ends, and June 1, when the national teams start preparing for continental cup competitions.”
Barcelona will conclude the 2023-24 season on May 27 against Sevilla after 38 La Liga rounds. Some players will then have a short break before being called up to the national team for the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship and Copa America, and the club plans to monetize the friendly in South Korea before they are called up to the squad.
“The destination is once again Asia, the same as Vissel Kobe (Japan), where Andreas Iniesta was last year,” the media outlet said, adding that “South Korea has a high level of interest in soccer, so success seems assured.”
“To organize this friendly, Barcelona has enlisted the help of NSN, the same company that organized last year’s match in Japan,” he said, adding, “Barcelona 카지노사이트 wants to present a good image in Korea, just as they did in Tokyo last year.”
“Barcelona will see their finances and brand strengthened,” he continued, “and at a time when they are trying to restore their sporting reputation, playing around the world puts them in a position to continue to grow.”
If Barcelona’s visit to South Korea is officially confirmed, it will be the first time the club has stepped foot on South Korean soil in 14 years, since 2010.
In the summer of 2010, Barcelona traveled to South Korea under Pep Guardiola to play a friendly against a K League All-Star team in a Seoul World Cup match. The friendly ended in a 5-2 victory for Barcelona, with Lionel Messi, who came on as a 29th-minute substitute at the start of the second half, showing his class by scoring two goals in a short span of time.
Barcelona’s first visit to Korea in 14 years is expected to be an unforgettable experience for Korean soccer fans, as the team boasts a number of world-class soccer stars, including Robert Lewandowski, Franck de Jong, and Marc-Andre ter Stegen.