English footballing giants Liverpool have confirmed a trip to Australia in May, booking a match against Sydney FC in Sydney after the English Premier League wraps up.
The game will take place at ANZ Stadium on Wednesday the 24th of May, the announcement coming from Liverpool ambassador Ian Rush while in the city on Monday.
“This is the first time the lads have played in Sydney and they’re really looking forward to a great match against one of Australia’s best A-League teams,” he said.
“We have so many incredible fans in Australia and there is always a brilliant atmosphere when we play over here.”
There is a little contention around the scheduling though.
The fixture will be running a tight line in terms of travel and the quality of the pitch, with Liverpool’s last round Premier League game coming just days before on May 21.
There will also be NRL games played at ANZ three days prior and two days after the exhibition match, putting the stadium staff’s ground preparation and maintenance abilities to the test.
Liverpool has become a bit of a common feature within Australia in recent years, kicking off with a historic match against Melbourne Victory in 2013 in front of a 95,000-strong MCG crowd.
The Reds also made appearances in Brisbane and Adelaide following that, but this will be the 18-time Premier League champion’s first trip to Sydney.
The fixture will no doubt be a massive boost to the footballing community in New South Wales and the state as a whole, a fact that NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has been quick to point out.
“We are excited Liverpool FC has chosen to play here,” she said.
“Securing this match is another example of the NSW Government’s commitment to building a world-class calendar of events to drive visitation to our state.”
With a supporter base of over two million fans, Australia is quickly becoming a second home for the Reds.
The game comes just in time for the 125th-anniversary celebrations of the club as the Reds celebrate the big milestone on June 3.
Ants32
Roar Rookie
+1
punter
Guest
Nope!!!!
Cameron
Roar Guru
I think its become rather evident these matches do nothing to further enhance the growth of the game on our shores at least in the form of attendances and viewing figures. Perhaps abroad, but I've seen no figures to indicate the benefit for Australian football.
Brian
Guest
Did anyone else read the headline and think Liverpool were going to play Man Cty
Andy
Guest
I would imagine most Liverpool fans in Australia are not in Liverpool because that would be kind of insane to uproot your entire life to watch a team you love play once, twice a week for half the year? And the only connection a fan needs to support a team is that they love the team; a fans loyalty and passion is not measured by how many relatives you have who live in the town or anything as ridiculous as that. The only requirement is to love the team, thats it. If you started loving a team 5 minutes ago because you like their shirt colour or if you are the bastard love child of Gerrard, Wright and Daglish and spent your entire life living in the rafters of The Kopp and have hissed at every Evertonian and Manchester United fan you have ever seen, you are both equal as fans.
Post_hoc
Guest
IF and a bloody BIG IF, the Wanderers make it out of the group stages of the ACL, I believe it is on the same night as the first Round of 16 match. So Wanderers might not have been able to play anyway.
Chris
Guest
Geez why plastic? Makes no sense
Swanny
Guest
Liverpool is a Shthole of a city . That's why they don't live there
AZ_RBB
Guest
This actually quite exciting. It'll be a nice little encore to the end of the A-League season. What a stacked off-season we have ahead of us. This leads straight into that crazy period of WCQs, mega friendlies and Confed Cup.
AZ_RBB
Guest
WSW have never played this sort of friendly so I have no idea what sort of atmosphere there could be. But I don't know many WSW fans let alone active fans who are keen to pay $60-70 to attend these games.
Martyn50
Roar Rookie
Totally agree.
punter
Guest
Did you complain about that joke AFL game in China?
Martyn50
Roar Rookie
There will always be "mugs" that will pay big money to watch name team play exhibition matches. Firstly it's not going to be the clubs top players. It's a chance for the up and comings to show their goods, and impress the selectors for the new season. 2nd Nothing is hanging on these matches so both clubs will not treat it with the same dedication as a points match
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Correct. Some people will fork out the equivalent $$$ to an A-league season ticket just to watch a few blokes from overseas roll their legs over and pocket some tidy earnings. Why not go to a whole A-league season and enjoy the companionship of fellow supporters and rival fans and put something into the Australian game ??? Words can't explain ..
punter
Guest
You like losing!!!!
Paul
Guest
I will only watch the plastic team from Sydney's Eastern Suburbs play in the Sydney Derby not ANYWHERE ELSE or against anyone else.
PlasticScouser
Guest
They should have been playing Western Sydney Wanderers, not the smurfs. Then at least ther might have been a bit of passion to drown out the crappy Liverpool chants.
Realfootball
Guest
You have a point, but this kind of post colonial revenue harvesting and all the bogus emotion that goes with it really gets my goat, as my father likes to say. I'm not suggesting that there isn't some genuine emotion from old Scousers, but really, how many are there? Still if Sydney do us proud, some of the people there might be tempted to give the A League a shot, and that can only be good.
punter
Guest
Bloody Gunners has me moderated again.
punter
Guest
I think likewise, however, I will only go to something like that I really want to see, Ronaldo. I have already seen Messi a few years ago, but unless I get some free tickets will not be going to Arsenal or Liverpool. If I lived in Melbourne may try to see Neymar.