WITH just a fortnight to go until the new European football season begins, dozens of the continent’s clubs are jetting around the world for their warm-up tours. Fans in Singapore – starved of world-class football action for much of the last three years due to the pandemic – will get to watch three matches at the Sports Hub in Kallang.

The Singapore Festival of Football Driven by CDG Zig, as the event is called, will feature English trio Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City, as well as German powerhouse Bayern Munich. The fifth team in the competition, Singapore’s very own Lion City Sailors, were drafted in last week to replace Italian side AS Roma.

BT Weekend checks out each of the three fixtures that will be played at the 55,000-seater National Stadium.

Tottenham vs Lion City Sailors (Jul 26, 7.30 pm kickoff) Supporters of Tottenham will get their first opportunity to see the club’s new manager Ange Postecoglou in the flesh. The 57-year-old, who joined last month after two seasons at Scottish team Celtic, is the first Australian to manage in the English Premier League (EPL).

Tottenham are on a three-nation pre-season tour, with Singapore being the final leg after earlier stops in Perth and Bangkok. The last time Spurs were in Singapore, they defeated Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus 3-2 courtesy of an insane lob by Harry Kane from the halfway line.

The Sailors, owned by Sea’s billionaire founder and chairman Forrest Li, are relishing their chance to rub shoulders with the likes of Kane, Son Heung-min, Ivan Perisic and Dejan Kulusevski.

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The Sailors have some new signings of their own to show off, among them former Ajax Amsterdam forward Richairo Zivkovic and ex-Sunderland defender Bailey Wright. The other foreign players in the squad include Belgian winger Maxime Lestienne and Brazilian midfielder Diego Lopes.

The Sailors were widely fancied to win the Singapore Premier League this season, but they are currently in third place behind joint-leaders Albirex Niigata and Tampines Rovers.

Liverpool vs Leicester (Jul 30, 5 pm) Exactly a year ago, Liverpool were in Singapore to play a friendly match against Crystal Palace, with the Reds winning 2-0 in front of 50,000 fans courtesy of goals by Jordan Henderson and Mohamed Salah.

Liverpool didn’t have the best season in 2022/23, as they finished fifth and missed out on a spot in the Champions League. Jurgen Klopp has strengthened his team over the summer, bringing in Hungary captain Dominik Szoboszlai for 70 million euros (S$103.5 million) and Argentina World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister for £35 million (S$59.7 million).

Leicester, meanwhile, had a disastrous campaign as they were relegated from the EPL in May, which means they will play in the second-tier Championship come August. The Foxes – now under new manager Enzo Maresca – will play Tottenham in Bangkok on Sunday (Jul 23) before they fly to Singapore to prepare to face Liverpool.

Leicester, the EPL champions in 2016 and winners of the FA Cup in 2021, will bring a strong squad that includes Patson Daka, Jamie Vardy, Harry Winks and new goalkeeper Mads Hermansen.

Bayern Munich vs Liverpool (Aug 2, 7.30 pm) Germany’s most decorated football club, Bayern Munich, returns to the Lion City for the first time in six years. Back in 2017, the Bavarians competed in the International Champions Cup in Singapore as they beat Chelsea 3-2 and lost 0-2 to Inter Milan.

Bayern’s annual Audi Summer tour this year will see them play two games in Tokyo next week – against EPL champions Manchester City and J1 League side Kawasaki Frontale – before jetting to Singapore to face Liverpool.

Fresh from winning an 11th straight Bundesliga title in May, Bayern kicked off their pre-season preparations in style earlier this week, demolishing German ninth-tier amateur side Rottach-Egern 27-0. Jamal Musiala, Mathys Tel and Marcel Sabitzer each netted five times, while Serge Gnabry scored a hat-trick.

While Bayern’s travelling squad is not yet confirmed as of press time, fans are hoping that manager Thomas Tuchel will include new signing Kim Min-jae, the South Korean defender who recently joined from Italian champions Napoli.

For more information on the Singapore Festival of Football and ticketing details, visit https://premier.ticketek.com.sg/shows/show.aspx?sh=RSFFUM