International Champions Cup

Barcelona and Real Madrid to play El Clasico in Miami

The first El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid to be played on U.S. soil is set for July 29 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami as part of the 2017 International Champions Cup.

By admin

For the very first time, USA will host El Clasico.

Miami is set to host a pre-season friendly between Real Madrid and Barcelona as part of plans for a summer pre-season preparations in the United States. The match will be played at 65,000-capacity Hard Rock stadium, home of the NFL franchise the Miami Dolphins. The location makes perfect sense for a match like this. The fact that Miami has a large Hispanic population, who are also very passionate about football, was the main reason why the organisers opted for El Clásico to take place in this city. The formal announcement was made during a press conference on Friday that featured legends from both sides such as Hristo Stocihkov and Roberto Carlos.

El Clasico in Miami is part of the 2017 International Champions Cup, an annual pre-season tournament which has been going since 2013. This will mark Real Madrid’s fifth appearance, while Barcelona is making its third appearance. The rest of the teams in this year’s ICC are slated to be announced March 21.

It’ll be the first meeting between the Spanish rivals in the United States. Barcelona and Real Madrid have met outside Spain only once before in their history: a match in 1982 in Venezuela — a 1-0 win for Real courtesy of a Vicente del Bosque goal.

The game will likely feature Barcelona’s MSN trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar and Real Madrid’s BBC trio of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo all on the same field. While Zinedine Zidane will likely be at the Real Madrid helm, Barcelona will probably have a new manager in charge for that match. Luis Enrique announced earlier in the month that he’d be stepping down after his contract expires in June.

El Clasico is the biggest match in club football with over 400 million viewers worldwide. The clubs drew 1-1 when they played on Dec. 3 in La Liga, and the next match between the two Spanish giants is scheduled for April 23 at the Bernabeu.