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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Aidan Macdonald

Celtic's Asia summer tour: Everything you need to know

Celtic have announced they will tour both Japan and South Korea over the summer as part of their pre-season plans.

Reports had previously speculated that the Scottish champions would be heading to Asia as part of the build-up to the 2023-24 campaign.

Ange Postecoglou's squad contains seven players from the region with Japanese stars Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi all joining the Parkhead club last season.

Their fellow countrymen Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata then arrived in the recent January transfer window.

Soon after, South Korea international Oh Hyeon-gyu also joined Celtic's ranks.

Here's all the details we know so far about the tour.

When are Celtic going to Asia?

Postecoglou's men are travelling to the Far East over the summer. The club have yet to confirm specific dates for when the matches will take place in Japan and South Korea.

Who will they play?

A list of opponents, or the number of matches, have yet to be announced but reports have previously suggested that Celtic could face teams such as Bayern Munich or Manchester City.

Wolves is another side that has been speculated as challengers, along with Kyogo's former team Vissel Kobe and Postecoglou's ex-side Yokohama F Marinos.

Where will the games take place in Japan and South Korea?

Locations have yet to be confirmed for the tour.

What have the club said?

Postecoglou spoke to the club's official website after the announcement was made, saying: "We are really looking forward to the summer tour to Japan, and we’re sure it will be hugely successful for the club and excellent preparation for next season.

"Clearly, Celtic has a real, long-standing connection with Japan, through previous visits and players such as Shunsuke Nakamura and, of course, now through our current squad members, so it will be great to visit and really bring this relationship to life.

"As we saw from our brilliant visit to Australia last year, the appetite for Celtic globally is huge and it is right that we maximise these great opportunities and show the world all that is great about our club.

"We wanted to pay respect to Japanese football so we are delighted to be engaging with the J-League and its clubs.   

"Japanese football is on a real upward trajectory at the moment, so we know we will be facing real tests, something which will be great for the team as we go into the challenges of next season.”

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