Charlotte FC to host English Premier League’s Chelsea FC this summer
Charlotte FC, the Major League Soccer expansion team in the midst of its first season, is set to host one of the sport’s most well-known clubs, Chelsea FC, in a summer friendly on July 20, a source familiar with the plans confirmed to The Charlotte Observer.
The matchup was long speculated following a first report of the friendly by TopBin90, but questions surrounding the status of the European club and its sale by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich stalled finalizing those plans.
Although the English Premier League team’s sale hasn’t yet gone through and remains subject to overseas government approval, Charlotte FC is expected to announce ticketing details this week for the match. Last month, Chelsea announced a week-long tour of the United States with games scheduled between July 16 and July 23 that culminates in a derby between Chelsea and Arsenal at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla.
A visit to Charlotte is expected to be part of Chelsea’s U.S. trip.
“There are some details that need to be worked out on the Chelsea side,” Charlotte FC president Joe LaBue said last month. “Our goal is to bring clubs from all over the world to Charlotte to showcase world-class soccer.”
In a statement as part of Chelsea’s pre-season tour, the club’s technical and performance advisor Petr Cech said, “We’ve always had a lot of success on our US tours, taking so many fans to the stadiums and giving them the opportunity to see Chelsea FC play live.”
“We have a huge fan base in the US that we’ve proudly built, and we’ve seen that fanbase getting bigger and bigger every year,” Cech’s statement continued. “We are delighted to go and play in the FC Series and the Florida Cup, where in total we will have three competitive games to prepare well for our upcoming season and to show what we can do to the American audience.”
While the date for a Charlotte stop has been unofficially set, changes in the planned sale of Chelsea could still alter the club’s summer schedule. As one report cautioned, “If the sale doesn’t go through in time, it would almost certainly disrupt any Chelsea matches scheduled on U.S. soil.”
In the announcement of its U.S. tour, Chelsea stated that it will be joining “under new ownership.”
“The Blues will only travel if the sale of the club has completed and accordingly are no longer subject to United Kingdom government sanctions,” the April release said.
According to international reports, the deadline for sale of the club is May 31.
A source familiar with Charlotte FC’s plans confirmed that the matchup could be subject to change based on Chelsea’s planned sale to Todd Boehly’s consortium, but that both clubs feel comfortable moving forward with an announcement.
This story was originally published May 17, 2022 at 12:08 PM.
