FC Barcelona return to the United States for preseason tour
The FC Barcelona men’s first team will repeat the last season’s destination and travel once again to the United States for their preseason tour, BARÇA ON TOUR: US 2023, in which they will play a total of four matches, all against European opposition. The first two games will be played in California; 22 July against Juventus in Santa Clara, San Francisco Bay Area, and on 26 July against Arsenal FC. The last two games will take place in Dallas Texas, for the clash with Real Madrid on 29 July and in Las Vegas where the tour will conclude with a game against AC Milan.
The US Summer Tour 2022 saw the Barça play on the East Coast with games in Miami and New York – as well as games in Las Vegas and Dallas – cities which hosted the majority of the Club’s institutional and social activities. This year the geographical emphasis has shifted to the West Coast where the majority of the Club’s activities will take place and where they will play three of their four scheduled games.
The blaugranes’ debut on the tour will come on 22 July against Juventus in the Levis Stadium, Santa Clara in San Francisco, home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers. It will be the third time that Barça have played at the venue which has room for 68,000 fans following matches against Manchester United in 2015 and AC Milan in 2018. The most recent encounter between Barça and Juventus came in a friendly last season on tour, the game ended in a 2-2 draw.
The other games in California will come against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side on 26 July in the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Los Angeles, a venue opened in 2020 with a capacity of 70,000 and the ground where the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams of the NFL play their home matches. The fixture between the two sides will be their first in seven seasons, the last meeting having come in the last sixteen of the UEFA Champions League in 2016 in which Barça won 2-0 in London and 3-1 at Spotify Camp Nou. The game will also be the first on American soil between the two clubs.
Another Clásico in Arlington, Texas
The summer tour this year will also include one of the most awaited matches for the fans, the Clásico, the third meeting between Barça and Real Madrid in the USA. He game will take place at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas which has a capacity of 80,000 and is home to the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. The venue is one that Barça have visited twice previously; in 2011 against Manchester United and in 2018 against AS Roma. In their two previous games against Real Madrid in the US, Barça have come out on top both times: winning 3-2 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami in 2017 and 1-0 at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas in 2022.
The Allegiant Stadium, which holds 65,000 fans, will be the venue for the final game of the tour for Xavi Hernández’s men against AC Milan, the third game on the west coast. The two teams have met on two previous occasions on US soil with a 2-0 win for Barça in 2003 in Washington and a 1-0 win for the Italians in 2018 in Santa Clara.
These four games during BARÇA ON TOUR: US 2023 are part of the Soccer Champions Tour, a tournament put together by Sixth Street in collaboration with Legends and AEG, and in which, aside from Barça and their four opponents on the tour, Manchester United will also be participating.
The USA, a popular destination for blaugrana preseason
This summer’s tour will be the 14th in FC Barcelona history to the USA (the first in 1937 was key in the Club’s survival), a country that has become a popular destination in recent years with tours taking place in 2011, 2015, 2017, 2018, the latter being a joint tour with the women’s team, as well as 2019 and 2022.
In fact, the North American market in a key priority for the globalisation and expansion the Barça brand. Football is undergoing a great period of growth in the USA that trend will hopefully continue with the next World Cup in 2026 taking place on North American soil. Furthermore, FC Barcelona opened a US office in New York in 2016 and continues its efforts to build a greater connection with its existing fans and win more followers and reach agreements with local sponsors to help develop even further the country’s footballing ecosystem.