Football Association Malaysia

BE THE 12TH MAN

BE THE 12TH MAN

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Malaysia vs Chelsea FC 2011

RETURN JOURNEY TO KUALA LUMPUR

More details of Chelsea's 2011 summer tour of Asia have been revealed today with Malaysia added to the itinerary.
The team will play a Malaysia XI in Kuala Lumpur and the country will act as the pre-season training hub, chief executive Ron Gourlay announced in the Malaysian capital.

This addition follows hard on the heels of news earlier this week that Carlo Ancelotti will be taking his squad to play in Bangkok, Thailand as a leg of the tour.

The Kuala Lumpur match means a return to a city visited by Chelsea in 2008 when a Malaysian XI was defeated 2-0.
'At Chelsea we are in no doubt about the interest from Malaysia in the club,' Gourlay says.'A huge crowd came to our game during our last tour of Asia and with next summer's match taking place in the 85,000-capacity national stadium there is the chance for many to do so again.

'As a centre for pre-season training as well, Carlo will require first-class facilities and we know Malaysia will provide that too.
'And we are looking forward to getting closer to our fans out here. Announcing so early gives us the opportunity to plan activities in the region over the next 10-11 months ahead of our pre-season tour. Our successful community coaching scheme will be just one of many engagement activities.'

Next summer's match will be in the Bukit Jalil National Stadium with the date and ticket-selling details to be announced.
The 2008 match took place in the Shah Alam Stadium in front of 60,000 fans. Current interest in Chelsea from Malaysia is such that only Indonesia and the United Kingdom provide more Facebook fans on the club's official page.

Also present at today's announcement were Tengku Mahkota Pahang Tengku Abdullah, deputy president of the Football Association of Malaysia, and Julian Kam of ProEvents, the tour promoters.

'We are delighted to bring Chelsea back to Malaysia with the support of Tengku Mahkota,' said Kam.

'Malaysia is best known for its superb hospitality, excellent facilities for football and the tremendous football fans we have in this country. The Chelsea supporters' club here has a 600-strong following, and numbers are growing.

'The club is widely popular throughout the world and especially so in Asia. With Ron's vision to plan the pre-season ahead, this will give Chelsea fans in the region a tremendous opportunity to plan their next summer holiday in Malaysia.'

Chelsea also visited Kuala Lumpur in the summer of 2003 when we took part in the FA Premier League Asia Cup.



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