Bayern Munich, Liverpool among five teams to grace Festival of Football in Singapore in July
They join Tottenham, Roma and Leicester to play at the National Stadium.
Lee U-Wen
JUST hours after Liverpool defeated Leicester City 3-0 in the English Premier League (EPL) on Tuesday (May 16), it was announced that the two teams will fly to Singapore in July to play each other at the National Stadium in Kallang.
That high-profile pre-season fixture is one of three games that will be staged as part of the inaugural Festival of Football, a week-long event that involves five European clubs.
The action begins on Jul 26 when EPL club Tottenham Hotspur take on Italian side Roma. The six-time European champions Liverpool’s game against Leicester will follow four days later, and to round off the schedule, German Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich will face Liverpool on Aug 2.
The Singapore Festival of Football Driven by CDG Zig, as the event is called, is the first large-scale football event with multiple matches featuring European clubs to be held here since 2019.
The promoter is TEG Sport, which organised last year’s Standard Chartered Singapore Trophy in July 2022 that saw Liverpool defeat fellow EPL team Crystal Palace 2-0 in front of more than 50,000 fans at the National Stadium.
Liverpool are currently fifth in the EPL standings and with just two games to go, the Reds face an uphill battle to reach the top four in order to enter next season’s Champions League.
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU
Friday, 2 pm
Lifestyle
Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself.
Leicester could very well be a second-tier club by the time they arrive in the Lion City. The Foxes are second-from-bottom in the EPL and are running out of time to save themselves from relegation. Leicester famously overcame seemingly impossible odds of 5,000-to-1 to win the EPL title in 2016, but their stay in England’s top flight looks likely to come to an end soon.
Tottenham – still hunting for a full-time manager to replace Antonio Conte – have endured a largely disappointing season. They are seventh in the EPL standings with no chance of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
Spurs last visited Singapore in July 2019, when England striker Harry Kane’s stoppage-time goal sealed a 3-2 win over Italian giants Juventus as part of the International Champions Cup.
Roma, who are in the semi-finals of the Europa League this season, are set to play in Singapore for the first time. They are sixth in Italy’s Serie A and have a small chance of finishing in the top four. Roma are coached by Jose Mourinho, a former Tottenham manager who guided his team to the Europa Conference League trophy last year.
Bayern Munich, winners of the Bundesliga for the last 10 seasons, face a much stiffer challenge to retain their trophy this year. The Bavarians – who last played in Singapore in 2017 – are top of the table but only point ahead of second-placed Borussia Dortmund with just two games remaining.
Tickets for the individual matches start at S$99 each and are available via Ticketek’s website. There is also a limited number of “VIP diamond hospitality” tickets that include access to a lounge, food and drinks, and interactions with Club Football legends.
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
