FCBARCELONA.CAT

30.05.2008 17:00

Chicago and New York visits

www.fcbarcelona.cat

FC Barcelona have confirmed the details of their pre-season trip to the United States that will take place between July 31 and August 6. The FCB US Toure 2008 will include games in Chicago and New York.

The Blaugrana will meet Mexican outfit CD Guadalajara on August 3 and then play MLS side New York Red Bulls three days later. Both teams met Barça during the tour to the States in 2006.

Times and places

The game in Chicago will be played in Soldier Field, the home of the Chicago Bears NFL side and the MLS team, Chicago Fire. The match in New York will take place at Giants Stadium, where both the New York Giants and Jets play in the NFL and the Red Bulls play in the MLS. Both games kick off at 7pm local time, which is 1am CET. The squad will return to Barcelona after the second game.

An new agreement

These two matches form part of the strategic agreement between FC Barcelona and the MLS which was signed on May 15 in New York and that, apart from playing six matches in the next five years in the United States, also guarantees the presence and promotion of the Barça brand throughout the north American market. The Blaugrana are the first European club with such an arrangement.

Crowded houses

The tour that FC Barcelona undertook in 2006 to the United States was a great success. The Blaugrana saw an average of 80,734 fans watch their three games, a figure higher than any other European club that he played over there.

In their first game, in the Los Angeles Memorial Colisuem, against CD Guadalajara, 92,650 were present. The second game, in the Reliant Stadium in Houston, some 70,550 watched Barça play Club América. The third and final match took place in Giants Stadium in New York and 79,002 saw them beat the New York Red Bulls.