(CNN)Five-time European champions Barcelona will visit Australia for the first time to play against an A-League All-Stars team in a friendly next month, the club announced on Wednesday.
The game takes place on Wednesday 25 May, a few days before the conclusion of the A-League season with the ‘Grand Final’ of the championship at the 80,000-strong Olympic Stadium in Sydney.
The A-League All-Stars team made their debut in 2013 with a game against then-Premier League champions Manchester United, drawing more than 83,000 spectators. Juventus visited a year later to play the All-Stars but there hasn’t been another game since.
“After our third COVID-hit football season, Australia and the A-Leagues are once again the destination for international teams,” Danny Townsend, CEO of the A-Leagues and outgoing Sydney FC chief executive officer, told Australian newspaper The Age.
“One of the world’s best teams taking on the best in the A-League just days before the men’s grand final will offer fans in Australia a celebration of football in the grand finals week.”
Australia was a regular stop for big European clubs before the country went into lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea drawing huge crowds for lucrative friendlies.
A video of more than 95,000 fans chanting “You’ll Never Walk Alone” before an exhibition match with Liverpool at Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2013 went viral.
More friendlies involving major European clubs are also taking place in Australia this summer. United and their English club Crystal Palace are due to play friendlies in Melbourne in July this year, but plans for a first Glasgow derby outside of Scotland fell through when Rangers were eliminated from the Sydney Super Cup following complaints from fans.
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