Celtic announce pre-season tour of Japan and Korea
The club will head to Asia after their initial European training camp
Last updated 2nd May 2023
Celtic will visit Japan and Korea as part of their pre-season tour this summer.
The club will head to Asia for a week after completing their initial European training camp.
The Hoops are likely to play two friendly matches against local teams.
The official dates will be confirmed in the near future.
The last time the Parkhead outfit visited Japan was in 2006, when Shunsuke Nakamura was a player.
There are currently five Japanese players in the league leaders squad: Kyogo, Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate, Tomoki Iwata and Yuki Kobayashi.
Oh Hyeon-gyu, from Korea, also joined the club earlier this year.
Speaking to the club's website, manager Ange Postecoglou said: "“We are really looking forward to our summer tour to Japan, and we’re sure it will be hugely successful for the club and excellent preparation for next season.
“Clearly, Celtic has a real, long-standing connection with Japan, through previous visits and players such as Shunsuke Nakamura and, of course, now through our current squad members, so it will be great to visit and really bring this relationship to life.
“As we saw from our brilliant visit to Australia last year, the appetite for Celtic globally is huge and it is right that we maximise these great opportunities and show the world all that is great about our club.
“We wanted to pay respect to Japanese football so we are delighted to be engaging with the J-League and its clubs.
“Japanese football is on a real upward trajectory at the moment, so we know we will be facing real tests, something which will be great for the team as we go into the challenges of next season.”
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