A report from Japan has claimed that Yokohama F Marinos are planning a July friendly against Celtic.
With Ange Postecoglou, Daizen Maeda and Tomoki Iwata moving directly from the Marinos to Celtic a friendly match between the two clubs has been in the pipeline for a while.
Back in November Celtic played two friendlies in Australia with the club keen to extend their footprint with Japan the logical next stop.
In recent seasons Celtic have tended to base their pre-season preparations in Austria but with five players from the J-League a fortnight of training and a couple of matches in Japan would fit in with Postecoglou’s plans for next season.
Japanese sight Nikkan Sports reports:
It was revealed on the 4th that Premier League powerhouses Manchester City and Scotland’s Celtic are planning to visit Japan this summer to play a friendly match against J1’s Yokohama. According to J League officials, they are making adjustments to hold matches in late July, when the league is on hiatus.
European powerhouses Manchester City and Celtic are planning to face last season’s J1 champions Yokohama. July will be the pre-season period for the major European leagues, and it will also be an opportunity for the two clubs to prepare for the season opener. In July 2019, when Yokohama won the league title, they played against Manchester City, who toured Japan, and are expected to play another high-level 90 minutes.
Manchester City is the same city football group as Yokohama. In 2019, they were winning the Premier League for the second time in a row at the time, and even though they beat Yokohama 3-1, Guardiola said after the game, “It was a great test. (Yokohama) had amazing quality. They were speedy and technical.” and leave words of admiration.
More than 65,000 spectators packed into the Nissan Stadium where the event was held.
Celtic will also be competing this summer. Under the former manager of Yokohama, Postecoglou, there are several Japanese players such as Japan representative FW Daizen Maeda and DF Tomoki Iwata, who won J1 MVP in Yokohama last season.
It’s unclear at this point whether a match between Manchester City and Celtic will materialize, but it looks like Yokohama will have an opportunity to challenge the world class against the two clubs.
With the SPFL Premiership season starting on August 5/6 a couple of games in Japan in July would provide ideal preparations for Postecoglou’s third season at Celtic. Bayern Munich and PSG are also expected to play in Japan this summer.
After being left out of the international squad this season Kyogo Furuhashi will be keen to put on a show for a Japanese audience.
Breaking news? Japanese medias reported Celtic come to Japan this summer. ‘J-League World Challenge’, match hosted by J-League that invites clubs, will be held in July. It turned out today that @prompt_fmarinos , @CelticFC and @ManCity will be invited.https://t.co/68q8X5QhIQ
— Yatao (@yataoda4) April 5, 2023
