It looks like Arsenal will face Sp*rs in Hong Kong as part of their pre-season preparations for the 2025/26 season.
The Gunners have made the United States their preferred destination in recent years but with 11 cities in the country set to host the Club World Cup next summer, a decision has been taken to focus attention on the Far East.
The club hasn’t visited Hong Kong since 2012 when Arsene Wenger’s side drew 2-2 against local outfit Kitchee at Hong Kong Stadium – a tour that also included matches in China and Malaysia.
According to local reports, Mikel Arteta’s side will host a north London derby on Thursday 31 July at the soon-to-be-opened 50,000-capacity Kai Tak Sports Park.
It remains to be seen where else matches take place but Arseblog News understands there have been offers from Singapore, Japan and South Korea; destinations last visited between 2011 and 2016 when the club looked to consolidate its popularity in Asia with a series of tours.
Arsenal’s recent focus on America has made sense on several levels. For a start, the club’s owners – the Kroenke family – have been keen to build closer links between its various franchises, including NFL side Los Angeles Rams, whose high-spec facilities have been used for three years running.
Having a consistent home and familiar surroundings has also appealed to manager Mikel Arteta who last year requested travel between pre-season matches was minimised. Finally, from a commercial perspective, the US is a huge market for the Gunners with retail sales far exceeding any other part of the world.
That said, it won’t have gone unnnoticed that the Gunners struggled to sell out their two matches in Los Angeles last summer. A low-key game with Bournemouth was announced late so not to cannibalise sales of the friendly with Manchester United for which tickets at SoFi Stadium were extraordinarily expensive.
With the Club World Cup offering ‘competitive’ fixtures amongst the world’s ‘best’ teams, it certainly makes sense to travel somewhere with less noise.
We suspect other Premier League clubs, including Liverpool, will do the same and they could provide familiar opposition.
Recent Arsenal pre-season venues
2011/12 – China, Malaysia, Germany, Portugal
2012/13 – Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Germany
2013/14 – Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, Finland
2014/15 – United States
2015/16 – Singapore
2016/17 – United States, Norway
2017/18 – Australia, China,
2018/19 – Sweden, Singapore, Ireland
2019/20 – United States, France, Spain
2020/21 – No tour
2021/22 – Scotland (United States cancelled)
2022/23 – Germany, United States
2023/24 – Germany, United States
2024/25 – United States
