Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce the details of our 2013 Here to Play, Here to Stay tour of Asia, which will see us play matches in Thailand, Malaysia, and for the first time, Indonesia.
We will play games in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. The first team last visited Asia in 2011 as we began our preparations for a season which ended with Champions League and FA Cup success.
The year's first match is against a Singha Thailand All-Star XI in the Singha Cup on Wednesday July 17 at the Rajamanagala National Stadium in Bangkok, which will act as a celebration of our partner's 80th anniversary.
We then travel to Kuala Lumpur to face a Malaysia XI at the Shah Alam Stadium on Sunday July 21.
We make our debut in Jakarta on Thursday July 25 against an Indonesia XI at the 88,000-seater Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, as we compete for the BNI Cup, marking our relationship with Bank Negara Indonesia, which has issued more than 60,000 Chelsea-branded payment cards since August 2012.
Upon announcing the tour, Chelsea Chief Executive Ron Gourlay said: 'It is fantastic that we will be returning to Asia for what promises to be an excellent pre-season tour.
'South-east Asia remains home to an ever-growing and passionate Chelsea FC support and it gives me great pleasure that we will again be able to experience that wonderful hospitality. In particular I look forward to visiting Indonesia for the first time, a country where we have an extensive fanbase that is eager to see Chelsea play.
'I am sure we will face strong opposition in packed stadiums as we celebrate the successes of some of our important regional partners and we will once again leave an important legacy in terms of the community work we conduct during the tour and for long afterwards.'
As well as helping us reach our supporters in the region, this summer's trip will also see us continue the important community work we have undertaken across Asia, with a Chelsea FC Soccer School, incorporating a Blue Pitch facility, due to open prior to our arrival in Indonesia.
This will provide a centre for local coaches to help further the development of grassroots football in the area, following on from similar projects in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Korea and Singapore, as well as Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.
This will provide a centre for local coaches to help further the development of grassroots football in the area, following on from similar projects in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Korea and Singapore, as well as Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.
Chelsea also has several dedicated local language websites and Twitter and Facebook feeds serving our Asian fans, which attract around half a million page views each month.
Ticket news for this year's Here to Play Here to Stay tour will appear here on the official Chelsea website in due course.
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