The Pre-Season Thread

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Quote

Chelsea Football Club's first-team squad will be visiting Asia during next summer's pre-season preparations.

Chief executive Ron Gourlay announced today in Bangkok, Thailand, that the team will be playing a match in the city against a Thailand All Stars side.

The news means the Blues will be returning to Asia where two years ago we played games in China and Malaysia.

The last time we played in Thailand was 1997 when Ruud Gullit took a side that had recently won the FA Cup to play the national team and won 1-0.

Since then support for the club in south-east Asia has grown rapidly generating around 350,000 monthly visitors to our official website chelseafc.com and today's announcement continues involvement with Thailand that was strengthened with this month's signing of Singha Beer as our official beer sponsor.

The venue for next summer's match will be the 60,000-capacity Rajamangala National Stadium (pictured below) with news on the date and ticket sales to follow.

'By announcing this part of our summer tour schedule so far in advance, we have a year to engage with our increasing fan base in Thailand as we build towards the game. We are looking forward to bringing the club closer to the fans with a year of activities including our world-renowned community coaching scheme,' Gourlay says.

'Importantly, we know this match will be against the quality of opposition Carlo Ancelotti requires and in a suitable venue, with a great atmosphere too. We are delighted our fans in Thailand will have a chance to see us play in the flesh.

'Premier League football is a passion in Asia, a continent in which Chelsea has significant relationships including a groundbreaking partnership in the Asian Football Confederation's grass roots projects, and the Super Soccer Star talent search with finalists in that competition visiting our Academy at Cobham.'

The visit will be promoted by ProEvents whose chairman, Paul J Kam, says: 'We are extremely pleased to return to Thailand with Chelsea after more than a decade.

'Thailand is best known for its superb hospitality and is one of the "must visit" countries for football teams in the world because of the tremendous football fans we have in this country.

'Chelsea is widely popular throughout the world and especially so in Asia where fans will support champions. We wish Chelsea all the best this season and hope that the team will come to Asia as back-to-back champions.'

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~2132615,00.html

Quote

More details of Chelsea's 2011 summer tour of Asia have been revealed today with Malaysia added to the itinerary.

The team will play a Malaysia XI in Kuala Lumpur and the country will act as the pre-season training hub, chief executive Ron Gourlay announced in the Malaysian capital.

This addition follows hard on the heels of news earlier this week that Carlo Ancelotti will be taking his squad to play in Bangkok, Thailand as a leg of the tour.

The Kuala Lumpur match means a return to a city visited by Chelsea in 2008 when a Malaysian XI was defeated 2-0.

'At Chelsea we are in no doubt about the interest from Malaysia in the club,' Gourlay says.'A huge crowd came to our game during our last tour of Asia and with next summer's match taking place in the 85,000-capacity national stadium there is the chance for many to do so again.

'As a centre for pre-season training as well, Carlo will require first-class facilities and we know Malaysia will provide that too.

'And we are looking forward to getting closer to our fans out here. Announcing so early gives us the opportunity to plan activities in the region over the next 10-11 months ahead of our pre-season tour. Our successful community coaching scheme will be just one of many engagement activities.'

Next summer's match will be in the Bukit Jalil National Stadium with the date and ticket-selling details to be announced.

The 2008 match took place in the Shah Alam Stadium in front of 60,000 fans. Current interest in Chelsea from Malaysia is such that only Indonesia and the United Kingdom provide more Facebook fans on the club's official page.

Also present at today's announcement were Tengku Mahkota Pahang Tengku Abdullah, deputy president of the Football Association of Malaysia, and Julian Kam of ProEvents, the tour promoters.

'We are delighted to bring Chelsea back to Malaysia with the support of Tengku Mahkota,' said Kam.

'Malaysia is best known for its superb hospitality, excellent facilities for football and the tremendous football fans we have in this country. The Chelsea supporters' club here has a 600-strong following, and numbers are growing.

'The club is widely popular throughout the world and especially so in Asia. With Ron's vision to plan the pre-season ahead, this will give Chelsea fans in the region a tremendous opportunity to plan their next summer holiday in Malaysia.'

Chelsea also visited Kuala Lumpur in the summer of 2003 when we took part in the FA Premier League Asia Cup.

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~2134873,00.html

[DavidEU 2,023]

Does this really need pinning already Alex?

[We Hate Scouse 10,286]

Really happy about this. Me and a few lads were planning on going to the Thailand Vs England friendly there in June, but now we can go to Chelsea instead!!

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Does this really need pinning already Alex?

Might as well, instead of having five or six different topics on it

[Duppy Conqueror 1,494]

back to the merchandise selling tours it is then...

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

Lets just hope it does more good then harm for the players. These stupid marketing tours usually tire players before the season starts.

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

Lets just hope it does more good then harm for the players. These stupid marketing tours usually tire players before the season starts.

[Madmax 9,219]

'Chelsea is widely popular throughout the world and especially so in Asia where fans will support champions.

That makes the fans sound like glory-hunters.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

More details of Chelsea's 2011 summer tour of Asia have been revealed today with Malaysia added to the itinerary.

The team will play a Malaysia XI in Kuala Lumpur and the country will act as the pre-season training hub, chief executive Ron Gourlay announced in the Malaysian capital.

This addition follows hard on the heels of news earlier this week that Carlo Ancelotti will be taking his squad to play in Bangkok, Thailand as a leg of the tour.

The Kuala Lumpur match means a return to a city visited by Chelsea in 2008 when a Malaysian XI was defeated 2-0.

'At Chelsea we are in no doubt about the interest from Malaysia in the club,' Gourlay says.'A huge crowd came to our game during our last tour of Asia and with next summer's match taking place in the 85,000-capacity national stadium there is the chance for many to do so again.

'As a centre for pre-season training as well, Carlo will require first-class facilities and we know Malaysia will provide that too.

'And we are looking forward to getting closer to our fans out here. Announcing so early gives us the opportunity to plan activities in the region over the next 10-11 months ahead of our pre-season tour. Our successful community coaching scheme will be just one of many engagement activities.'

Next summer's match will be in the Bukit Jalil National Stadium with the date and ticket-selling details to be announced.

The 2008 match took place in the Shah Alam Stadium in front of 60,000 fans. Current interest in Chelsea from Malaysia is such that only Indonesia and the United Kingdom provide more Facebook fans on the club's official page.

Also present at today's announcement were Tengku Mahkota Pahang Tengku Abdullah, deputy president of the Football Association of Malaysia, and Julian Kam of ProEvents, the tour promoters.

'We are delighted to bring Chelsea back to Malaysia with the support of Tengku Mahkota,' said Kam.

'Malaysia is best known for its superb hospitality, excellent facilities for football and the tremendous football fans we have in this country. The Chelsea supporters' club here has a 600-strong following, and numbers are growing.

'The club is widely popular throughout the world and especially so in Asia. With Ron's vision to plan the pre-season ahead, this will give Chelsea fans in the region a tremendous opportunity to plan their next summer holiday in Malaysia.'

Chelsea also visited Kuala Lumpur in the summer of 2003 when we took part in the FA Premier League Asia Cup.

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~2134873,00.html

[Madmax 9,219]

Sigh when will they visit India? No chance I reckon.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

HONG KONG ADDED TO SUMMER SCHEDULE

Posted on: Tue 19 Oct 2010

The final leg of next summer's tour to Asia has been revealed today (Tuesday) with the announcement that Chelsea will contest the Barclays Asia Trophy in Hong Kong.

It will be the club's second participation in the biennial tournament having been the inaugural winners in 2003.

Aston Villa, Blackburn and the champions of the Hong Kong First Division will make up the opposition. The games will take place on Wednesday 27 and Saturday 30 July in the Hong Kong Stadium.

The winners of the first day's matches will play a final on the second matchday with the two defeated sides taking part in a third-place play-off.

'Hong Kong has a strong and active official Chelsea supporters club. They even organised their own open-top bus parade around the streets to celebrate our winning of the Double and we are looking forward to visiting them in their famous city,' says Chelsea FC Chief Executive Ron Gourlay.

'Carlo Ancelotti is pleased with the strength of opposition for this stage of his pre-season preparations. It goes without saying that a tournament containing three Premier League sides will be of the highest quality and the organisation of this well-established event will be first class.

'We are delighted to be visiting Hong Kong, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur on our summer tour and that our loyal fan base there will be able to see our first team in action in their own backyard.'

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore adds: 'The Hong Kong FA put on an excellent tournament in 2007 and we are supremely confident they will repeat that success.

'The Hong Kong Stadium (pictured below) is a wonderful facility and we hope to see it filled like last time. There are three excellent clubs in Chelsea, Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers taking part. They are clubs with a great history in football but they also represent the best of the Barclays Premier League.'

Hong Kong

The dates have been set for Chelsea's previously announced pre-season matches in Malaysia and Thailand.

They are as follows:

21 July - Malaysia XI v Chelsea - Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur.

24 July - Thailand XI v Chelsea - Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok.

Kick-off times and ticket details for all the Asia matches will be announced in due course.

The Hong Kong matches will be the fifth Asia Trophy, the others held in Kuala Lumpur (2003), Bangkok (2005), Hong Kong (2007) and Beijing (2009).

In 2003, Chelsea, fresh from Roman Abramovich buying the club, beat the Malaysian national team and then beat Newcastle on penalties in the final.

Asia Cup 2003

Chelsea played a post-season friendly in Hong Kong in May 1999, beating local side Instant Dict 2-1 with goals from Gianfranco Zola and Mikael Forssell.

In May 1997 Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Di Matteo helped a Chelsea side that had just won the FA Cup to a 3-2 win over South China in another match played in Hong Kong.

Prior to that we played a Hong Kong XI in May 1994 and lost 2-1 with Mark Stein the Chelsea scorer.

Our return visit in 2011 will be accompanied by Chelsea Foundation grass-root football activities within the local community.

Gourlay adds: 'By announcing our summer tour schedule so far in advance, we have time to engage with our increasing fan base in Asia as we build towards the games. We are looking forward to bringing the club closer to the fans with a year of activities including our world-renowned community coaching scheme.

'We launched a new Blue Pitch facility in Hong Kong in December 2009, the first one to be opened by the club in Asia, and have since delivered a very successful soccer school there.'

from the official site.

[kwylino 329]

I wish chelsea would come down for the summer and play hearts/hibs falkirk or motherwell

[We Hate Scouse 10,286]

I wish we could go back to Amsterdam pre season, that was epic!

[Rambo 1,729]

When are they ever coming to Canada?

[Term-X 7,891]

I wish we could go back to Amsterdam pre season, that was epic!

It should be Amsterdam every year.

[middleoftheshed 388]

Overheard someone talking about us playing a friendly against Brighton this summer to open their new stadium yesterday. Anyone else heard anything?

[Liquidator 5,176]

Overheard someone talking about us playing a friendly against Brighton this summer to open their new stadium yesterday. Anyone else heard anything?

I havent heard anything about us playing there but Brighton have said that they would like to play against Premier League opposition. Certainly with Gus Poyet's connections to Chelsea it could happen and if it did I would go to it!

[dave30 728]

I wish chelsea would come down for the summer and play hearts/hibs falkirk or motherwell

That would be great mate completely agree we could have a pre season with Rangers as well which is what a lot of our fans want i sometimes wonder if we forget that we are in fact a British Club and a majority of our fans actually do come from the United Kingdom