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• That was the Audi Summer Tour 2023 | FC Bayern

That was the Audi Summer Tour 2023

This year's Audi Summer Tour was brought to a more than successful conclusion with a showcase match against Liverpool. Under the motto "a way to inspire", FC Bayern spent the past nine days in touch with the fans in the two tour destinations of Tokyo and Singapore, experiencing sporting highlights and exciting events with the local residents and making new friendships. fcbayern.com has put together a summary of the highlights of the Asia tour.

Football festival at the Singapore Trophy

At the National Stadium in Singapore, which was almost sold out with 49,983 spectators, the fans witnessed the clash between two international top teams on Wednesday evening. In a thrilling match with a whole host of spectacular goalmouth action, FC Bayern ultimately came out on top with a 4-3 (2-2) victory. Well ahead of kick-off, supporters of both teams celebrated with a large football party all around the arena, where the German record champions were once again represented with numerous stands and activities. There was also a fan march to the match venue.

FC Bayern say "Danke!"

FC Bayern's Audi Summer Tour would have been nothing without the multitude of supporters and fans who gave the German record champions such a warm welcome on their two stops of the Asian tour. After the men from Munich had already thanked the local people in Tokyo with a banner for their support, among other things, Joshua Kimmich and Co. also sent some words of thanks to all FCB followers in Singapore after the final whistle of the match against Liverpool.

Overall positive verdict on the tour

At a get-together with German media representatives on Wednesday, executive vice-chairman Dr Michael Diederich , marketing director Andreas Jung and senior vice-president Prof Dr Dieter Mayer drew an overall positive conclusion of the eighth Audi Summer Tour of the German record champions. It "was a resounding success for us, with all the encounters we were able to have," said Diederich. The trip to Tokyo and Singapore showed how important it was "that German football could once again set out to open up international markets. The Southeast Asian region has terrific dynamism and is a pace-setter. It's important that we keep pace internationally."

Read the other statements here:

Diederich, Jung, Mayer

FC Bayern with positive summary of the Audi Summer Tour

Governor's reception and visit to the german embassy in tokyo.

A great honour for FC Bayern! During their stay in Japan, the German record champions received an invitation from the Governor of Tokyo Prefecture. President Herbert Hainer and vice-president Prof Dr Dieter Mayer presented Yuriko Koike with a jersey during their visit, and the host wished the club a successful stay in Japan. The German record champions were also given a reception at the German Embassy in Tokyo. Herbert Hainer was thrilled by his visit to the German ambassador, Dr Clemens von Goetze, and had nothing but praise for the hospitality of Tokyo and Japan.

FC Bayern visit Governor and German embassy in Tokyo

Guests of the german ambassador in singapore.

As in Tokyo, FC Bayern representatives had the honour of visiting the German Embassy in Singapore. The ambassador, Dr Norbert Riedel, had extended an invitation to executive vice-chairman Dr Michael Diederich, marketing director Andreas Jung, senior vice-president Prof Dr Dieter Mayer as well as FC Bayern Legend Giovane Élber .

Audi Summer Tour

Visit to German Ambassador in Singapore

Above the rooftops of tokyo with josip stanišić.

Josip Stanišić has been a member of the FC Bayern family for seven years now. At the age of 16, the Munich-born player joined the German record champions' youth academy and progressed through the U17s, U19s and the reserves (U23s) to the senior squad. We caught up with the Croatia international and 2022 World Cup third-place finisher in Japan's capital and chatted about a particularly emotional moment in the car and his goals for the new season.

Josip Stanišić: My mindset is: I'm ready!

Successful meeting with fan clubs from all over asia.

Just how great the enthusiasm for FC Bayern is in Asia was evident, among other things, at the fan club meeting in Tokyo. Around 100 representatives of fan clubs from all over Asia met at the "Schmatz Ginza" and celebrated the get-together together with the Bavarian delegation led by Dr Michael Diederich, Prof Dr Dieter Mayer and the two FCB Legends Giovane Élber and Claudio Pizarro. Executive vice-chairman Diederich was extremely enthusiastic about the many Asian fans and promised: "We want to bring what FC Bayern is all about to you from Munich and Bavaria."

Fan clubs from across Asia

Lucky charms for FC Bayern delegation

Great atmosphere at the audi night in tokyo.

In addition to exhausting training sessions and intense friendlies, FC Bayern also had the chance to relax during the Audi Summer Tour. The opportunity to do so was provided, for example, by the German record champions' traditional Audi Night at Tokyo Bay's Bank30.

'Living progress' - FC Bayern at the Audi Night in Tokyo

Exciting anime challenge with sané and stanišić.

It wasn't just on the pitch that Bayern worked up a sweat time and again during the numerous and intensive training sessions. Head coach Thomas Tuchel 's side were also challenged off the pitch. One example was the FC Bayern Anime Challenge, in which Leroy Sané and Josip Stanišić went head-to-head. If you want to know how the two of them got on in the cosmos of One Piece, Pokémon or Dragon Ball, just check out this video:

With new signing Konrad Laimer on a culinary tour of discovery

Konrad Laimer joined FC Bayern at the beginning of July and has already settled in nicely in that short time. On the Audi Summer Tour, we met up with the Austria international in a traditional Japanese ramen restaurant and talked about pre-season at FC Bayern and his strengths, among other things.

Konrad Laimer: I'm here to serve the team

Globally united: unveiling of the new away jersey.

A very special highlight awaited team and fans alike with the unveiling of the new away jersey for the upcoming season. The black kit from partner adidas features a world map-inspired graphic with pink and green diamonds representing the German record champions’ fan clubs around the globe. The new kit was worn for the first time at the Audi Football Summit against Kawasaki Frontale, which Bayern deservedly won 1-0.

2023/24 season

New FC Bayern away jersey: Globally united by ‘Mia san Mia’

Two editions of the audi football summit in tokyo.

Despite all the impressions and events on the Asia tour, the German record champions' optimal pre-season preparations could not be neglected. In addition to many gruelling training sessions, the Munich team played two high-profile friendlies in Tokyo. The Audi Football Summit kicked off against Manchester City ( watch the video highlights ) in Tokyo's National Stadium, which immediately set a record: never before had so many fans watched a football match in the 2020 Olympic Games venue (65,049). Three days later, the team played Kawasaki Frontale at the same venue ( watch the video highlights ). Newcomer Minjae Kim enjoyed an impressive debut for Bayern against the local side.

#ClubAnnouncement #Men'sFirstTeam #AsiaPacificTour2023 #PreSeason #Roma

Club to visit Singapore during Asia-Pacific Tour 2023

Tottenham Hotspur is delighted to announce that its Men’s First Team will visit Singapore during this summer’s Asia-Pacific Tour 2023.

Following on from the previously announced London Derby with West Ham United at the Optus Stadium in Perth on Tuesday 18 July , we travel to Singapore for a clash with Italian giants AS Roma at the Singapore National Stadium on Wednesday 26 July (kick-off 19:30 local time).

• Men’s First Team to take on Italian giants AS Roma on Wednesday 26 July at the National Stadium, Singapore • Our Tour 2023 schedule continues to develop following the previously announced London Derby with West Ham in Perth on Tuesday 18 July • One further match in an additional Asian city will be announced in the coming weeks • Tickets for the AS Roma match are available to Club members in a pre-sale from tomorrow (Thursday 4 May) before the general sale opens on Monday 8 May

Supported by Global Principal Partner, AIA, this will be the Club’s third visit to Singapore and our second in the past four years - the most recent of which in 2019 was made memorable by Harry Kane’s outrageous last-minute winner from the halfway line in a 3-2 victory over Juventus at the National Stadium.

This year’s visit will give the Club another opportunity to engage with its well-established and passionate fanbase in Singapore - our Official Singapore Spurs Supporters’ Club has been in existence for over 22 years.

Tickets for the AS Roma match will be made available to Season Ticket Holders, Premium Members, One Hotspur Members and Official Supporters’ Club members in an exclusive pre-sale from tomorrow (Thursday 4 May), 10am (Singapore time). Further details on how to purchase tickets will be communicated directly via email.

Tickets will then be available in a general sale via Ticketek Singapore from Monday 8 May, 10am (Singapore time).

To become a One Hotspur Member and gain access to the ticketing pre-sale, visit: https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/fans/membership/one-hotspur/

To find your nearest Official Supporters’ Club, visit: https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/fans/supporters-clubs/welcome/

A limited number of tickets remain available in the general sale for our previously announced match against West Ham at the Optus Stadium, Perth, Tuesday 18 July (kick-off 18:00 local time).

One further Tour 2023 match in an additional Asian city will be announced in the coming weeks – sign up for email updates here: https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/asia-pacific-tour-2023/

As is Club tradition, players and staff will be engaging in a range of activities to engage with our fanbase, support good causes, deliver grassroots football programmes and celebrate local culture across all cities we visit.

This includes Open Training events held at the host stadiums the day before each game. We can confirm that the open training session in Singapore will take place on Tuesday 25 July, Singapore National Stadium, 18:00 local time. Tickets will be available via this link from Monday 8 May, 10am (Singapore time): https://premier.ticketek.com.sg/shows/show.aspx?sh=THVSAROT

All Asia-Pacific Tour 2023 matches will be shown live on SPURSPLAY* – the Club’s official video streaming platform. Available for an annual subscription of £45 (£35 for Season Ticket Holders and One Hotspur Members), SPURSPLAY also brings you full 90-minute match replays, live Academy football and exclusive features and documentaries. Sign up at https://play.tottenhamhotspur.com/home .

*Matches available to all SPURSPLAY subscribers outside of the territories in which they are played...

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Tickets for Liverpool's pre-season games against Leicester City and Bayern Munich in Singapore are now on general sale.

The Reds are set to return to Singapore this summer as part of their preparations for the 2023-24 campaign.

Jürgen Klopp’s side will meet Leicester at the National Stadium on Sunday July 30 when they will again compete for the Standard Chartered Singapore Trophy, which they won against Crystal Palace on last year’s pre-season tour.

That match will be followed by a meeting with Bayern at the same venue on Wednesday August 2, with the winner set to lift the Singapore Trophy, presented by Audi and Standard Chartered Bank.

Tickets for both fixtures are now on general sale here .

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Club to visit Singapore during Asia-Pacific Tour 2023 | OneFootball

Tottenham Hotspur

· 3 May 2023

Club to visit Singapore during Asia-Pacific Tour 2023

Tottenham Hotspur is delighted to announce that its Men’s First Team will visit Singapore during this summer’s Asia-Pacific Tour 2023.

Following on from the previously announced London Derby with West Ham United at the Optus Stadium in Perth on Tuesday 18 July , we travel to Singapore for a clash with Italian giants AS Roma at the Singapore National Stadium on Wednesday 26 July (kick-off 19:30 local time).

OneFootball Videos

Supported by Global Principal Partner, AIA, this will be the Club’s third visit to Singapore and our second in the past four years - the most recent of which in 2019 was made memorable by Harry Kane’s outrageous last-minute winner from the halfway line in a 3-2 victory over Juventus at the National Stadium.

This year’s visit will give the Club another opportunity to engage with its well-established and passionate fanbase in Singapore - our Official Singapore Spurs Supporters’ Club has been in existence for over 22 years.

Tickets for the AS Roma match will be made available to Season Ticket Holders, Premium Members, One Hotspur Members and Official Supporters’ Club members in an exclusive pre-sale from tomorrow (Thursday 4 May), 10am (Singapore time). Further details on how to purchase tickets will be communicated directly via email.

Tickets will then be available in a general sale via Ticketek Singapore from Monday 8 May, 10am (Singapore time).

To become a One Hotspur Member and gain access to the ticketing pre-sale, visit: https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/fans/membership/one-hotspur/

To find your nearest Official Supporters’ Club, visit: https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/fans/supporters-clubs/welcome/

A limited number of tickets remain available in the general sale for our previously announced match against West Ham at the Optus Stadium, Perth, Tuesday 18 July (kick-off 18:00 local time).

One further Tour 2023 match in an additional Asian city will be announced in the coming weeks – sign up for email updates here: https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/asia-pacific-tour-2023/

As is Club tradition, players and staff will be engaging in a range of activities to engage with our fanbase, support good causes, deliver grassroots football programmes and celebrate local culture across all cities we visit.

This includes Open Training events held at the host stadiums the day before each game. We can confirm that the open training session in Singapore will take place on Tuesday 25 July, Singapore National Stadium, 18:00 local time. Tickets will be available via this link from Monday 8 May, 10am (Singapore time): https://premier.ticketek.com.sg/shows/show.aspx?sh=THVSAROT

All Asia-Pacific Tour 2023 matches will be shown live on SPURSPLAY* – the Club’s official video streaming platform. Available for an annual subscription of £45 (£35 for Season Ticket Holders and One Hotspur Members), SPURSPLAY also brings you full 90-minute match replays, live Academy football and exclusive features and documentaries. Sign up at https://play.tottenhamhotspur.com/home .

*Matches available to all SPURSPLAY subscribers outside of the territories in which they are played...

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Football Asia is the a collection of professionals who have been working in Thailand for as long as 15 years in a variety of fields..

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I must commend the detailed planning put in to ensure that our stay was a pleasant one. The food, transport and accommodation were excellent. On the pitch the teams invited were of very good standard which made the trip worthwhile for the coaches and players. The facilities and service onsite were second to none.

Gregory Tan - Singapore Sports School General Manager

Thailand is a great place for a football tour with the combination of high level teams to play against, great facilities and amazing hotels. I’ve known the staff at Football Asia for many years, they are really well connected in professional football in Thailand.

Mario Lemos - Head Coach Abahani Dhaka FC, Bangladesh

The 2022 Siam Cup was a really well organised youth tournament with high level teams at the best football facility in Thailand. The focus on high level games on world class pitches is exactly what our youth players need to help them develop.

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Company overview.

Football Asia is a well respected company operating out of Thailand with connections throughout Asia. We offer a number of services for players, coaches, professional teams and youth teams wanting to travel to Asia or within Asia. Football Asia provide a number of tours and tournaments in Thailand for teams wanting to experience football overseas. Travelling to a different country for football has so many benefits. The opportunity to train in a new country and play matches and tournaments against teams from abroad is both exciting and beneficial. Teams travel to Thailand for a variety of reasons. Professional football teams from Asia will come for preseason tours in Thailand. Thailand has great football stadiums and training pitches with fantastic hotels, which are very important aspects when choosing a football training camp in Asia. Thailand is also host to over 100 professional football teams. Football teams wanting football tours abroad will have a wide range of teams to play against if they come to Thailand. Football training camps abroad also help with team bonding and Thailand has a wealth of non-football activities to do such as its amazing beaches, shopping and cultural/tourist attractions. We can provide fully inclusive tours and cater for your every need.

Youth football has taken off in Asia with football quickly becoming the most popular sport in the region. Youth football academies in Thailand are a plenty both at professional level as well as grass roots. Thailand has its own Thai Youth League for professional teams in Thailand, running at U10 to U18 age groups. Teams that want youth football tournaments abroad should look no further than Thailand as a destination. Facilities in Thailand are great and with some of the best football academies in Asia it’s easy to find the right level of competition for teams coming to Thailand to play football. If you would like to experience playing against an elite football academy in Thailand we run two annual tournaments with the best professional football clubs in Thailand participating. We have tournaments for elite football academies and 7 aside grass roots teams. At all our events we pride ourselves on making sure your every need is met so you can fully enjoy your football experience.

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Roma to take on Tottenham in Singapore!

The Giallorossi will land in Singapore to carry out part of their pre-season preparations there. 

They will face Tottenham at the National Stadium on the 26th July, with kick-off at 19:30 local time. Jose Mourinho's side beat the Premier League outfit 1-0 in a summer friendly played in Israel last summer. 

After the game against Spurs in Singapore, Roma will head to South Korea to complete a tour that will give the club a chance to return to a strategic market and get close to the many passionate local fans.

Further information on Roma's summer tour, including details of activities for local fans, will be announced in the next few weeks.

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8 pre-season Asian football tours happening this July 2022

Football fans, this is for you. From Singapore to Thailand to Japan, here are all the pre-season football tours taking place across Asia this July 2022.

Some of the biggest European clubs are set to arrive in countries such as Thailand and Singapore for pre-season Asian football tours before their respective 2022-2023 seasons commence.

Football stars enjoy a commanding fan following in Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea, the UAE, and India. Icons like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have the status of demi-gods among the legions of fans across the continent.

Though most of the world’s best football clubs are in Europe and South America, there is no dearth of talent in Asian countries or clubs, as nearly all these nations play football and have their own leagues. Due to the game’s popularity, a special tournament known as the Premier League Asia Trophy is held every two years between any three or four EPL clubs in an Asian country.

On the national front, Japan and South Korea are significant because they are considered the two best Asian football teams, and both have successfully qualified for the FIFA World Cup multiple times. In fact, in 2002, South Korea became the first country outside of Europe and the Americas to reach the FIFA World Cup semi-final.

Asia is, therefore, a prominent market for everything connected to football . It means that the continent has brand endorsements and outreach worth billions, as it is home to over half of the world’s population.

This is one of the major reasons why several prominent clubs, such as Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), are embarking on a pre-season Asian football tour of countries where football has a solid presence, however, may not be as electrifying as in Europe or South America.

[Hero and featured image credit: @premierleague/Twitter]

What is a pre-season tour?

An international pre-season tour is always held before the start of the actual season.

One of the ideas behind pre-season tours is helping team members come together after their holidays or national duties, usually occurring at the end of a league season. New transfers or new managers can acclimatise with the team’s overall environment and make adjustments to prepare for the gruel ahead.

More importantly, it is the pecuniary advantages that influence the pre-season schedules of some of the world’s best football clubs. A pre-season tour is an opportunity to expand the fan base of a club and build business interests in the form of sales of merchandise, big-ticket sponsorships, and television rights.

As for the game, a pre-season match is different from a regular-season encounter in the way that the former is less intense. It is like a friendly match between clubs, who might otherwise give their best to win, in a league match or a championship tournament.

8 pre-season Asian football tours to watch out for

Jump to / table of contents.

• Liverpool vs Manchester United
• Tottenham Hotspur vs Team K League
• Crystal Palace vs Liverpool
• Tottenham Hotspur vs Sevilla
• PSG vs Kawasaki Frontale
• PSG vs Urawa Red Diamonds
• PSG vs Gamba Osaka
• Tottenham Hotspur vs AS Roma

Date: 12 July

Venue: Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand

The heavyweight match of the South East Asian pre-season tour is between two of the most famous EPL teams of all time.

Manchester United’s 2021-22 season was a terrible nightmare. However, owing to Cristiano Ronaldo ’s brilliant goal-scoring ability, the team managed to finish sixth on the EPL table.

However, the Red Devils now have a new manager, Erik ten Hag, who is in charge of the team. On 25 May 2022, the Premier League club announced that he will have his first pre-season game in Thailand.

On the other hand, Liverpool, under manager Jürgen Klopp, has had an excellent run in the tournaments of the 2021-22 season. They won the FA Cup and Carabao Cup and finished as runners-up in the Champions League 2021-22, which was won by Real Madrid. However, they lost the league championship by just one point to winners Manchester City.

Manchester United met Liverpool on two occasions in the last season and received drumming in both, losing 5-0 in the first and 4-0 in the second. They would like to get off the mark in this match itself, following which they can leave for Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne, Australia, for their pre-season match against Crystal Palace.

Image: Premier League/@premierleague/Twitter

Date: 13 July

Venue: Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul, South Korea

South Korean football fans are excitedly looking forward to this pre-season Asian football tour of the Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and for one good reason — Son Heung-min .

The Korean men’s national side captain, who plays for Spurs, hammered 23 goals in the 2021-22 EPL season to co-win the Golden Boot award with Liverpool’s Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah. Son is the first Asian footballer to win the award in any of the top five European football leagues.

Spurs will play against a K League All-Star XI. The match is part of the Coupang Play Series, involving two games set three days apart.

Image: Tottenham Hotspur/@SpursOfficial/Twitter

Date: 15 July

Venue: National Stadium, Singapore

The pre-season 2022-23 Asian football tour of Liverpool is bringing them to Singapore in South East Asia for a match against fellow EPL side Crystal Palace.

FIFA World Cup 1998 winner Patrick Vieira took the reins of managing London-based Crystal Palace ahead of the 2021-22 season. He did quite well and placed the club at the respectable 12th place, two ranks above its position from the 2020-21 season. But, like Manchester United, Crystal Palace, too, could not defeat Liverpool.

So, it is likely that Jürgen Klopp will have the last laugh in the pre-season 2022-23 for Liverpool.

Image: Crystal Palace F.C./@CPFC/Twitter

Date: 16 July

Venue: Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon, South Korea

The second of the Coupang Play Series matches will be held between Spurs and La Liga side Sevilla. Both the English and the Spanish clubs finished fourth in their respective leagues in the 2021-22 season.

This could be one of the biggest highlights of the Asian pre-season tours of top European clubs. Spurs have been fantastic under manager Antonio Conte. Sevilla, too, has seen a dramatic transformation in its performance since Julen Lopetegui took charge in 2019.

Spurs and Sevilla met the last time in 2007 during the UEFA Cup — a tournament that was eventually won by the Spanish side. The first of their matches ended in a draw and Sevilla won the second.

Image: Sevilla FC/@SevillaFC_ENG/Twitter

Date: 20 July

Venue: Japan National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan

Ligue 1 2021-22 champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) is restricting its pre-season Asia tour to Japan. The team will meet J1 League team Kawasaki Frontale in the first of three matches, scheduled in the country for the European club.

And so, Japanese fans will get to see Lionel Messi in action alongside young French super-striker Kylian Mbappé and Brazilian ace Neymar Jr.

Messi didn’t have a great league season, ending with just six goals but has been riding on a wave of success on the national front for Argentina. Neymar netted 13 goals and has been in sublime form. While Mbappé scored 28 goals to win the Golden Boot in the French top tier for the fourth consecutive time.

Kawasaki Frontale is one of the better-placed teams in the J1 League. It came third on the table in 2021-22, becoming eligible for the AFC Champions League qualifiers.

Image: Paris Saint-Germain/@PSG_English/Twitter

Date: 23 July

Venue: Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama, Japan

PSG will head to Saitama in Saitama Prefecture to play against the home team Urawa Red Diamonds.

The match will be an interesting pre-season warm-up in PSG’s schedule, given that Urawa Red Diamonds is a much lower-ranked team in the J1 League.

Messi, Mbappé and Neymar — should the management decide to field them in this encounter — can be expected to take their overall goal tally higher.

Date: 25 July

Venue: Panasonic Stadium Suita, Osaka, Japan

Gamba Osaka barely managed to escape relegation in J1 League in the 2021-22 season. This means that the odds are heavily in favour of the visiting European club in this one-sided affair.

Football fans in Osaka, however, can see both their favourite players from the home squad as well as international superstars such as Spanish defender Sergio Ramos and Argentine midfielder Ángel Di María, who headline the French club.

Date: 30 July

Venue: Sammy Ofer Stadium, Haifa, Israel

After the completion of the South Korea leg, Spurs will continue their pre-season Asian football tour in Israel, where they are to meet the Italian team AS Roma .

The Serie A team, which finished sixth in the 2021-22 season, is managed by the charismatic José Mourinho. In May 2022, Roma won the UEFA Europa Conference League to grab its first major European title in over 60 years. With the victory, Mourinho became the first manager to win a European trophy with four different clubs.

Spurs, therefore, may face a major challenge in this pre-season encounter.

Image: UEFA Europa Conference League/@europacnfleague/Twitter

This article first appeared on Augustman Malaysia .

Manas Sen Gupta

Manas Sen Gupta writes at the intersection of tech, entertainment and history. His works have appeared in publications such as The Statesman, Myanmar Matters, Hindustan Times and News18/ETV. In his spare time, Manas loves studying interactive charts and topographic maps. When not doing either, he prefers reading detective fiction. Spring is his favourite season and he can happily eat a bowl of noodles any time of the day.

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Bayern Munich set to visit Japan, Singapore for Audi Summer Tour

Summer is almost here...so get Bayern Munich in your plans!

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Bayern Munich has announced the information on its club website for the annual Audi Summer Tour dates and the team will travel to Japan and Singapore:

The second stop of this year’s Audi Summer Tour will see FC Bayern head to Singapore, as was announced at a press conference there today with Giovane Elber. Germany’s record champions will face Liverpool as part of the Singapore Trophy, presented by Audi, on August 2nd. The opponents for the first Audi Football Summit in Tokyo have also been confirmed as Manchester City , with the game kicking off at 19:30 local time on July 26th. In Singapore from July 30th to August 2nd FC Bayern will be in Singapore from July 30th to August 2nd before returning to Munich. The game against Liverpool at the Singapore National Stadium is scheduled for 19:30 local time. As well as the friendly against Manchester City, FC Bayern will also face Kawasaki Frontale at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo for the second Audi Football Summit at 19:00 local time on July 29th. This year’s Audi Summer Tour lasts from July 24th to August 3rd under the motto “A way to inspire.” Last summer, FC Bayern were on tour in the USA. The last time they were in Asia was in 2017 when they visited China and Singapore again.

Seeing Bayern Munich vs. the likes of Liverpool FC and Manchester City is one heck of a way to get the new season started.

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Teddy Swims is set to perform in Singapore this July, as part of his 2024 Asia Tour

For one night only

American singer-songwriter Teddy Swims is set to perform at the Capitol Theatre on July 23, 2024, together with his band Freak Freely. This is part of his Teddy Swims: I've Tried Everything But Therapy Tour , which will start in Singapore and move to Manila. 

One of Teddy's most remarkable achievements lies in his meteoric rise from YouTube covers to a global sensation. His covers of popular songs have garnered millions of views, and his tracks have accumulated a whopping 2.7 billion streams worldwide. Hits like Broke , I Can't Make You Love Me , and Picky showcase his ability to infuse each note with raw emotion, as well effortlessly blending the different genres of R&B, soul, country, and pop. The song Lose Control   also came up #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #4 on the Billboard Global 200.

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Pope Francis expected to visit Singapore in September; MFA confirms Govt in talks with Vatican

SINGAPORE – Singapore is in talks with the Vatican about a proposed visit by Pope Francis, which is expected to happen in September.

“Singapore welcomes a visit by Pope Francis,” a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said on April 2 in response to queries from The Straits Times.

The last papal visit was almost 40 years ago, when the late Pope John Paul II drew thousands of Roman Catholics during a brief stopover in 1986.

The Pope’s planned visit was announced by the de facto Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, in an interview with the America magazine on March 26.

America is a monthly Catholic magazine founded in 1909 and published by the Jesuits of the US.

Early reports of an Asia-Pacific tour first appeared in January in two Catholic media outlets – America and EWTN Vatican. The latter, in an article outlining the Pope’s agenda for 2024, reported that “plans are under way” for a 10-day visit to Indonesia, Singapore, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea.

The tour, which was earlier scheduled for August, will mark only the second papal visit to Singapore. When Pope John Paul II visited, he stayed just five hours in the country.

If health permits, Pope Francis, 87, is expected to spend at least a day in Singapore. A possible visit to Vietnam is also under consideration, the America magazine report added.

In January 2022, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong was granted a brief audience with Pope Francis during a working visit to the Vatican City. His visit was to reaffirm bilateral ties with the city-state and came a month after the Roman Catholic Church marked its 200th anniversary in Singapore.

On March 31, Indonesian Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas confirmed that Pope Francis would visit Indonesia on Sept 3. Outgoing Indonesian President Joko Widodo reportedly invited the pontiff to visit Indonesia – which has the world’s largest Muslim population, numbering about 242 million – in June 2022, as part of efforts to promote religious tolerance.

However, the Pope’s ailing health has cast a pall on his Asia-Pacific travel plans. On March 29, he withdrew abruptly from the Good Friday procession at Rome’s Colosseum. The last-minute decision was an attempt “to preserve his health” ahead of his Easter obligations, said the Vatican.

He presided at the Easter Vigil service on March 30, and on Easter Sunday, March 31, read his twice-annual Urbi et Orbi message and gave blessings from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to a crowd of several thousand. Urbi et Orbi means to the city and world in Latin.

There are about 243,000 Roman Catholics in Singapore, according to the 2020 census.

In 1986, Pope John Paul II knelt and kissed the tarmac when he touched down at Changi Airport – a traditional gesture marking the start of a state visit.

Then Singapore Archbishop Gregory Yong and then Vatican Ambassador to Singapore, Archbishop Renato Martino, as well as then Communications Minister Yeo Ning Hong boarded the plane to receive him.

After meeting then President Wee Kim Wee and then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew at the Istana, he presided over a mass attended by about 70,000 people at the former National Stadium.

Correction note: In an earlier version of the story, we said that there were 395,000 Roman Catholics in Singapore as at 2020. This is incorrect. It should be 243,000. We are sorry for the error.

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Pope Francis to travel to Indonesia, Singapore, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea

By Courtney Mares

Vatican City, Apr 12, 2024 / 06:45 am

Pope Francis will travel to the Southeast Asian countries of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore later this year, the Vatican announced Friday.

The 11-day multi-country voyage from Sept. 2–13 will be the longest international trip of Francis’ papacy.

The trip announcement comes after the 87-year-old pope has slowed down his travel schedule in recent months as health issues have forced him to cancel some public appearances. Francis, who often uses a wheelchair, has not traveled internationally since September 2023.

Pope Francis’ first stop will be Indonesia, home to the largest Muslim population in the world. The country’s 229 million Muslims make up more than 12% of the global Muslim population. Nearly all of Indonesia’s Muslims are Sunni.

Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo of Jakarta welcomed the news that the pope will visit Indonesia from Sept. 3–6.

“Catholics throughout Indonesia want to shake hands with the pope one by one, but we all know that is impossible,” Suharyo said in a video message announcing the visit.

More than 29 million Christians live in Indonesia, 7 million of whom are Catholic. Pope Paul VI visited the country in 1970 and Pope John Paul II traveled there in 1989.

“Hopefully, with this visit, Indonesian Catholics will become more courageous in voicing the truth and become an example for people of other religions in terms of truly religious life, namely love above all, as the pope always emphasizes,” the Indonesian cardinal told UCA News.

Papua New Guinea

Pope Francis will be the second pope to visit Singapore, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea after John Paul II.

The pope will visit the cities of Port Moresby and Vanimo in Papua New Guinea from Sept. 6–9.

Papua New Guinea is a country of nearly 9 million people on the eastern half of the island of New Guinea. The other side of the island consists of two Indonesian provinces. Papua New Guinea is a nation of considerable cultural diversity, comprised of hundreds of ethnic groups indigenous to the island with 851 Indigenous languages spoken in the country.

Nearly all Papua New Guinea citizens are Christians, and 26% of the population is Catholic.

The pope’s next stop on his Southeast Asia tour will be Dili, the capital city of East Timor, from Sept. 9–11.

East Timor is a small country on the island of Timor. It gained independence from Indonesia in 1999, following decades of bloody conflict as the region vied for national sovereignty.

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More than 97% of East Timor’s population of 1 million people is Catholic. It is one of only a few Catholic-majority countries in Southeast Asia.

A Catholic bishop from East Timor, Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, received the Nobel Peace Prize together with the country’s second president, Jose Manuel Ramos-Horta, in 1996 for their efforts to reach a peaceful and just end to fighting in the country.

The Vatican confirmed in 2022 that Belo has been under disciplinary restrictions since September 2020 due to accusations of sexual abuse of minors.

Pope Francis will conclude his trip with a visit to the island country of Singapore from Sept. 11–13.

Singapore has the highest GDP per capita in Asia and the second-highest population density of any country in the world. The Archdiocese of Singapore has a diverse population of 395,000 Catholics, offering Masses predominantly in English, Chinese, Tamil, as well as other languages from Southeast Asia.

Nearly 75% of Singapore’s population is ethnic Chinese, according to the 2020 census, which also lists 13% of the population as ethnic Malay and 9% ethnic Indian.

(Story continues below)

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The U.S. Report on International Religious Freedom states that among ethnic Indians in Singapore, 57.3% are Hindu, 23.4% Muslim, and 12.6% Christian. The ethnic Chinese population includes Buddhists (40.4%), Christians (21.6%), Taoists (11.6%), and 25.7% with no religion.

Pope Francis has long expressed interest in visiting Indonesia and other neighboring island nations in Southeast Asia. A papal trip to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that the pope’s full schedule for this apostolic journey will be published at a later date.

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Major European Football Clubs That Will Be Playing Friendlies In Asia Soon

With the 2021/22 football season done and dusted, footballing clubs around the world will be jetting about for pre-season tours..

Some of the biggest European clubs are set to arrive in countries such as Thailand and Singapore for pre-season Asian football tours before their respective 2022-23 seasons commence.

Football stars enjoy a commanding fan following in Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea, the UAE and India. Icons like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have the status of demi-gods among the legions of fans across the continent.

Though most of the world’s best football clubs are in Europe and South America, there is no dearth of talent in Asian countries or clubs, as nearly all these nations play football and have their own leagues. Due to the game’s popularity, a special tournament known as the Premier League Asia Trophy is held every two years between any three or four EPL clubs in an Asian country.

On the national front, Japan and South Korea are significant because they are considered the two best Asian football teams, and both have successfully qualified for the FIFA World Cup multiple times. In fact, in 2002, South Korea became the first country outside of Europe and the Americas to reach the FIFA World Cup semi-final.

Asia is, therefore, a prominent market for everything connected to football. It means that the continent has brand endorsements and outreach worth billions, as it is home to over half of the world’s population.

This is one of the major reasons why several prominent European football clubs, such as Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), are embarking on a pre-season Asian football tour of countries where football has a solid presence, however, may not be as electrifying as in Europe or South America.

So, what is a pre-season tour?

An international pre-season tour is always held before the start of the actual season.

One of the ideas behind pre-season tours is helping team members come together after their holidays or national duties, usually occurring at the end of a league season. New transfers or new managers can acclimatise with the team’s overall environment and make adjustments to prepare for the gruel ahead.

More importantly, it is the pecuniary advantages that influence the pre-season schedules of some of the world’s best football clubs. A pre-season tour is an opportunity to expand the fan base of a club and build business interests in the form of sales of merchandise, big-ticket sponsorships and television rights.

As for the game, a pre-season match is different from a regular-season encounter in the way that the former is less intense. It is like a friendly match between clubs, who might otherwise give their best to win, in a league match or a championship tournament.

Here are the pre-season Asian football tours to watch out for

( Main and Featured image: Paris Saint-Germain/@PSG_English/Twitter )

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• Liverpool vs Manchester United
• Tottenham Hotspur vs Team K League
• Crystal Palace vs Liverpool
• Tottenham Hotspur vs Sevilla
• PSG vs Kawasaki Frontale
• PSG vs Urawa Red Diamonds
• PSG vs Gamba Osaka
• Tottenham Hotspur vs AS Roma

Date: 12 July

Venue: Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand

The heavyweight match of the South East Asian pre-season tour is between two of the most famous EPL teams of all time.

Manchester United’s 2021-22 season was a terrible nightmare. However, owing to Cristiano Ronaldo ’s brilliant goal-scoring ability, the team managed to finish sixth on the EPL table.

However, the Red Devils now have a new manager, Erik ten Hag, who is in charge of the team. On 25 May 2022, the Premier League club announced that he will have his first pre-season game in Thailand.

On the other hand, Liverpool, under manager Jürgen Klopp, has had an excellent run in the tournaments of the 2021-22 season. They won the FA Cup and Carabao Cup and finished as runners-up in the Champions League 2021-22, which was won by Real Madrid. However, they lost the league championship by just one point to winners Manchester City.

Manchester United met Liverpool on two occasions in the last season and received drumming in both, losing 5-0 in the first and 4-0 in the second. They would like to get off the mark in this match itself, following which they can leave for Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne, Australia, for their pre-season match against Crystal Palace.

Image: Premier League/@premierleague/Twitter

Date: 13 July

Venue: Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul, South Korea

South Korean football fans are excitedly looking forward to this pre-season Asian football tour of the Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and for one good reason — Son Heung-min .

The Korean men’s national side captain, who plays for Spurs, hammered 23 goals in the 2021-22 EPL season to co-win the Golden Boot award with Liverpool’s Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah. Son is the first Asian footballer to win the award in any of the top five European football leagues.

Spurs will play against a K League All-Star XI. The match is part of the Coupang Play Series, involving two games set three days apart.

Image: Tottenham Hotspur/@SpursOfficial/Twitter

Date: 15 July

Venue: National Stadium, Singapore

The pre-season 2022-23 Asian football tour of Liverpool is bringing them to Singapore in South East Asia for a match against fellow EPL side Crystal Palace.

FIFA World Cup 1998 winner Patrick Vieira took the reins of managing London-based Crystal Palace ahead of the 2021-22 season. He did quite well and placed the club at the respectable 12th place, two ranks above its position from the 2020-21 season. But, like Manchester United, Crystal Palace, too, could not defeat Liverpool.

So, it is likely that Jürgen Klopp will have the last laugh in the pre-season 2022-23 for Liverpool.

Image: Crystal Palace F.C./@CPFC/Twitter

Date: 16 July

Venue: Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon, South Korea

The second of the Coupang Play Series matches will be held between Spurs and La Liga side Sevilla. Both the English and the Spanish clubs finished fourth in their respective leagues in the 2021-22 season.

This could be one of the biggest highlights of the Asian pre-season tours of top European clubs. Spurs have been fantastic under manager Antonio Conte. Sevilla, too, has seen a dramatic transformation in its performance since Julen Lopetegui took charge in 2019.

Spurs and Sevilla met the last time in 2007 during the UEFA Cup — a tournament that was eventually won by the Spanish side. The first of their matches ended in a draw and Sevilla won the second.

Image: Sevilla FC/@SevillaFC_ENG/Twitter

Date: 20 July

Venue: Japan National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan

Ligue 1 2021-22 champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) is restricting its pre-season Asia tour to Japan. The team will meet J1 League team Kawasaki Frontale in the first of three matches, scheduled in the country for the European club.

And so, Japanese fans will get to see Lionel Messi in action alongside young French super-striker Kylian Mbappé and Brazilian ace Neymar Jr.

Messi didn’t have a great league season, ending with just six goals but has been riding on a wave of success on the national front for Argentina. Neymar netted 13 goals and has been in sublime form. While Mbappé scored 28 goals to win the Golden Boot in the French top tier for the fourth consecutive time.

Kawasaki Frontale is one of the better-placed teams in the J1 League. It came third on the table in 2021-22, becoming eligible for the AFC Champions League qualifiers.

Image: Paris Saint-Germain/@PSG_English/Twitter

Date: 23 July

Venue: Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama, Japan

PSG will head to Saitama in Saitama Prefecture to play against the home team Urawa Red Diamonds.

The match will be an interesting pre-season warm-up in PSG’s schedule, given that Urawa Red Diamonds is a much lower-ranked team in the J1 League.

Messi, Mbappé and Neymar — should the management decide to field them in this encounter — can be expected to take their overall goal tally higher.

Date: 25 July

Venue: Panasonic Stadium Suita, Osaka, Japan

Gamba Osaka barely managed to escape relegation in J1 League in the 2021-22 season. This means that the odds are heavily in favour of the visiting European club in this one-sided affair.

Football fans in Osaka, however, can see both their favourite players from the home squad as well as international superstars such as Spanish defender Sergio Ramos and Argentine midfielder Ángel Di María, who headline the French club.

Date: 30 July

Venue: Sammy Ofer Stadium, Haifa, Israel

After the completion of the South Korea leg, Spurs will continue their pre-season Asian football tour in Israel, where they are to meet the Italian team AS Roma .

The Serie A team, which finished sixth in the 2021-22 season, is managed by the charismatic José Mourinho. In May 2022, Roma won the UEFA Europa Conference League to grab its first major European title in over 60 years. With the victory, Mourinho became the first manager to win a European trophy with four different clubs.

Spurs, therefore, may face a major challenge in this pre-season encounter.

Image: UEFA Europa Conference League/@europacnfleague/Twitter

Manas Sen Gupta

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Pope Francis set to travel across Asia in longest trip of papacy

P ope Francis will visit Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Singapore in September, the Vatican has announced, confirming the longest trip of Francis’ papacy that is sure to test his health, stamina and mobility.

The Vatican confirmed the September 2-13 visit, saying the 87-year-old pope would visit Jakarta, Indonesia; Port Moresby and Vanimo, Papua New Guinea; Dili, East Timor; and Singapore.

Further details will be announced later.

Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, had to cancel a planned visit to Dubai late last year after he came down with a bad case of bronchitis.

He suffered from respiratory problems all winter and had to curtail his participation in Holy Week events to save his energy for Easter.

Francis has also been using a wheelchair for nearly two years because of bad knee ligaments, and has said that traveling has become increasingly more difficult.

And yet at 11 days, the trip would be the longest of Francis’ papacy, outpacing by a few days some of his long trips to the Americas early on in his 11-year papacy.

It will bring the Argentine Jesuit to the world’s most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia, as well as the former Portuguese colony of East Timor, where the Catholic Church wields enormous influence.

There is also a chance of another leg to the trip being added later – this week, the Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, was in Vietnam and discussed a papal visit, Vatican News reported, without providing details.

In a statement announcing the visit, the Indonesian foreign ministry welcomed the visit and recalled that it had originally been scheduled for 2020 but was postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The visit of Pope Francis to Indonesia holds significant importance to the Indonesian people, not only for Catholics but also for all religious communities. The visit is also expected to strengthen the message of tolerance, unity and world peace,” the statement said.

Indonesia is home to roughly 242 million Muslims and 29 million Christians — 8.5 million of whom are Catholics — according to a 2022 report by the Religious Affairs Ministry.

East Timor, which today has a population of about 1.2 million people, is Southeast Asia’s only predominantly Christian nation with the exception of the Philippines. According to the 2015 census, 97.6% of East Timor’s population is Catholic.

The visit to East Timor will likely reignite attention over a clergy sex abuse scandal involving its revered independence hero and Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The Vatican confirmed in 2022 that it had sanctioned Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo following allegations that he sexually abused boys there during the 1990s. Belo is believed to now be living in Portugal.

Francis will also be the first pope to visit Papua New Guinea since St John Paul II travelled there in 1984. The country, in a strategically important part of the South Pacific, has struggled with tribal violence and civil unrest.

John Paul also visited Singapore in 1986. The country today is home to 395,000 Catholics and Francis in 2022 made its archbishop Singapore’s first cardinal.

In a statement welcoming the visit, Cardinal William Goh, said it “will bring renewed fervour to all Catholics in Singapore, uniting them in faith and mission, especially in these most challenging of times.”

The Vatican has planned only one other papal trip this year — to Belgium to celebrate the anniversary of the country’s Catholic university. Francis has also said he wants to return to his native Argentina, but no plans or dates have been announced.

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