Tottenham, Juventus join Melbourne Victory at 2016 International Champions Cup

European football giants Tottenham Hotspur and Juventus will both appear in Australia next year as part of the 2016 International Champions Cup, with A-League side Melbourne Victory also taking part in the competition.

A fourth side will also be included in the Australian leg of the competition, but just who that will be is not yet clear, with an announcement expected in February next year.

Melbourne Victory – the reigning A-League champions and premiers, and holders of the FFA Cup – will become the first A-League side to feature in the competition.

They will play Juventus in the first match of the tournament, at the MCG on Saturday, July 23.

Tottenham and Juventus will both bring full-strength squads to the Cup, including exciting young stars Paul Pogba and Harry Kane.

“The best of the best will be coming down here again and we’re really delighted to have convinced them to come to Melbourne,” said Bart Campbell, tournament organiser.

“Juventus and Tottenham between them have something like 17 players playing at Euro 2016, which finishes July 10.

“If you look at the quality across those sides, Juventus have just gone into the final 16 in Europe, into the knockout phase. They won Serie A last year, they were in the final of the Champions League, they’re a really strong side.

“If you look at some of the players they’re bringing down, Pogba was just offered 80 million [euro] to transfer, they declined that number so he’s a real player, we look forward to seeing him here.

“They [the stars] are coming. Subject to injury, everyone’s available and required to be down here in Australia.”

In 2015 the Australian leg of the International Champions Cup drew Manchester City, Real Madrid and Roma to the MCG, where each side was able to win one of three games played – though two were decided via penalties.

However in 2016 with an Australian team taking part for the first time, the A-League will again have a chance to prove its quality on an international scale, as it did in 2014 when the Western Sydney Wanderers were named Asian Champions.

This time however, it is the highly successful Victory who will fly the flag for Australian football.

“It will create challenges for us to build on our depth and the talent within the squad and that creates an enormous excitement for Kevin and the football department and our supporters,” said Melbourne Victory chairman Anthony Di Pietro.

“We would hope that our performance has brought us to the forefront of being invited, so we’ve got a lot of work to do to be playing against the Champions League runners-up and the enormously followed Tottenham.”