A three-team tour of South Korea has been canceled, with Wolves, AS Roma and Celtic all officially withdrawing from the trip.
“We were scheduled to play a friendly match against overseas teams on August 1, but due to the tournament organizer’s failure to fulfill the contract, we have notified them of the termination of the contract and the cancellation of the match,” Incheon United said on the club’s official social media on Friday, adding, “We would like to inform you that this friendly match has finally been canceled. We ask for the understanding of our fans,” the club said in a statement announcing the cancellation of the matches against the overseas teams.토토사이트
Celtic, the Scottish triple champions of the 2022/23 season, also announced the news on their official website on April 4, a day before Incheon made the announcement on social media, saying, “We are deeply disappointed that we will not be able to play in South Korea,” adding, “There have been significant delays in the financial and operational work that the event organizers have committed to providing.
“Following several weeks of delays, the club has decided to terminate the contract (with the organizers) and abandon the tour of South Korea. The team and players were excited to travel to South Korea and meet the fans, but issues beyond our control have forced us to cancel the friendly.”
Celtic said its previously scheduled tour of Japan will go ahead. Celtic are scheduled to play Yokohama F.Mariners on Sept. 19 and Gamba Osaka on Sept. 22.
Initially, Celtic, Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma and Hwang Hee-chan’s Wolverhampton (England) were scheduled to visit Japan in late July to play friendly matches. Celtic and Wolverhampton were scheduled to meet in Suwon on the 26th, followed by Wolverhampton and AS Roma on the 29th, and AS Roma and Incheon on August 1st.
However, last month, AS Roma and Wolverhampton announced in an official statement that they would cancel their visits, saying that StadiumX, which was promoting the event, had not paid any of the promised payments.
In response, StadiumX announced its intention to save the event by rescheduling matches with Incheon centered on Celtic on the 30th of last month, but Incheon also officially notified its cancellation on the 2nd.
An Incheon official said, “We decided to withdraw as several items in the contract have not been fulfilled, such as the Korean Football Association’s approval of the friendly match, and the second payment, which was to be received by June 30, has not been made,” and sent a letter.
Even before Celtic’s announcement, three of the four teams scheduled to play the friendlies had pulled out, effectively killing the event.
StadiumX had originally planned to host five European teams this summer, including those three. Napoli (Italy) and Mallorca (Spain), where Kim Min-jae and Lee Kang-in played, respectively, were scheduled to play two matches at Seoul World Cup Stadium on August 8 and 10.
However, the games overlapped with the K League schedule, and the team hit a rocky patch when they did not receive permission from the Korea Football Association. The KFA demanded that the stadium prove it could afford to host a big event like a foreign team’s visit.
StadiumX’s inability to fulfill these demands set the ball rolling from the start, and subsequent visits by Wolverhampton, AS Roma, and Celtic were all canceled due to financial problems.
Photo via AFP/Yonhap, Incheon United, Mallorca