Barcelona’s pre-season clash with Vissel Kobe, set for July 27 in Kobe’s Misaki Park Stadium, is back on the calendar after the club announced that complications with the match promoter had been resolved.
The fixture was initially cancelled on July 24 after Barcelona accused the event’s organiser of committing “serious contractual breaches.” However, in a statement released later, the club confirmed that the situation had been addressed and that the team departed for Japan on the morning of July 25.
While Barcelona did not explicitly name the promoter involved in the dispute, the Yasuda Group was referenced in earlier communications regarding the Japan tour. The company was better known within European football as the sponsors of recently-relegated French side Stade Reims and La Liga outfit Real Sociedad.
According to SportsPro, the Yasuda Group was alleged to have defaulted their payments towards D-Drive, who helped in brokering and promoting Barcelona’s trip to Japan, with claims that the Yasuda Group had sent them falsified documents regarding payments relating to the Blaugrana‘s clash against Vissel. FootballAsian then added that the payments owed by the Yasuda Group to D-Drive were covered by Rakuten, the e-commerce giants who were Barcelona’s former sponsors as well as Vissel’s owners.
Following the fixture in Japan, Hansi Flick’s squad is expected to travel to South Korea, where they will face K League 1 sides FC Seoul on July 31 and Daegu FC on August 4.
Marcus Rashford, who joined Barcelona on loan from Manchester United earlier this week, could make his Barcelona debut in the Blaugrana‘s tour of East Asia.