NEW YORK -- This summer, Chelsea, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Club America will compete in the inaugural World Football Challenge -- a six-city round robin tournament to be held in the U.S.
Beginning on July 19 and concluding on July 26, the four teams will face off at stadiums across the U.S., including the Rose Bowl (Pasadena, Calif.), the Georgia Dome (Atlanta, Ga.), MT&T Bank Stadium (Baltimore, Md.), Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.), Stanford Stadium (Palo Alto, Calif.) and the new Cowboys Stadium (Arlington, Texas). Match tickets go on sale Tuesday at www.worldfootballchallenge.com.
"We are delighted to be in the United States again for preseason," said Peter Kenyon, Chelsea FC chief executive. "This is our fifth preseason out of six that we have toured here and it is always a pleasure to see our fans and train and play in excellent facilities in great cities.
"Chelsea, of course, will bring a full-strength first team squad and with the quality of the opposition, and the backing of our partners, this series of matches will be the best preparation and the most high profile we have played in America."
Kenyon was joined by AC Milan director Umberto Gandini, Club America president Michel Bauer, FC Internazionale Milano technical director Marco Branca, CAA Sports co-head Michael Levine and ESPN Programming vice president Scott Guglielmino at a press conference at the ESPN Zone in New York to announce the 2009 World Football Challenge and match schedule.
"I am very happy to take AC Milan back to the United States after a few years, thanks to our friends at CAA, in a tournament which will see us visiting Atlanta and Baltimore before going back to Boston where we played already," said Gandini. "AC Milan will meet very important teams like Club America, Chelsea, with whom we played on U.S. soil twice, and Internazionale, our city rivals. After 40 years there will be another derby in the States, the last and only so far was in New York. These are going to be three important matches very useful in order to prepare the new season at the best. I am confident that these events will offer great football to all the fans throughout America."
"As president of Club America I am delighted to participate in the World Football Challenge," said Bauer. "I know our fans in the U.S. and Mexico will enjoy such an exciting competition and watching our eagles play against these elite European clubs. With so much talent on the pitch, it's going to be a competitive tournament and I'm looking forward to getting it started."
CAA Sports, a division of Creative Artists Agency, the leading entertainment and sports agency, is the event management agency and organizers of the World Football Challenge.
ESPN, the U.S. English-language television home of the Men's and Women's FIFA World Cups and other marquee international soccer competitions, is the broadcast partner and will televise all matches on ESPN or ESPN2. Matches will also air on ESPN's Spanish-language sports network, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN360.com, the company's live sports broadband network.
"We're very excited to work with CAA Sports in providing football fans around the country with the opportunity to see four of the world's marquee football clubs in action," said Guglielmino.
In May 2008, ESPN2's live telecast of the UEFA Champions League final -- Chelsea vs. Manchester United -- from the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, was seen by 1.1 million viewers, a record for the series in the U.S. In addition, the live coverage of all 31 UEFA European Football Championship 2008 (Euro 2008) matches from eight cities in Switzerland and Austria last June delivered unprecedented viewership, reaching a total of 44.7 million people across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and ESPN Classic during the three-week tournament.
World Football Challenge match schedule
Sunday, July 19
Club America vs. Inter at Stanford Stadium (Palo Alto, Calif.)
7 p.m. ET on ESPN2
Tuesday, July 21
Chelsea vs. Inter at the Rose Bowl (Pasadena, Calif.)
11 p.m. ET on ESPN2
Wednesday, July 22
AC Milan vs. Club America at the Georgia Dome (Atlanta, Ga.)
7 p.m. ET on ESPN2
Friday, July 24
AC Milan vs. Chelsea at M&T Bank Stadium (Baltimore, Md.)
8 p.m. ET on ESPN
Sunday, July 26
AC Milan vs. Inter at Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)
5 p.m. ET on ESPN2
Sunday, July 26
Chelsea vs. Club America at Cowboy Stadium (Arlington, Texas)
7 p.m. ET on ESPN2