The tournament, which is in its second year, is named after Lokomotiv’s previous history of being formed by workers of the state railway and will take place between August 1 and August 3. Chelsea FC Chief Executive Peter Kenyon said: “We are delighted to play against such great opposition in Moscow in this tournament.
“It will be the first time Chelsea has been to Russia for pre-season so this has the added advantage of providing excellent preparation for the new season with the opportunity for our growing number of fans in Moscow to see us play live twice.”
The matches will be in a cup knockout format with a semi-final, final and third-place play-off, with the draw yet to be made. Matches will be played at Lokomotiv’s Central Stadium, which has a capacity of 28,800.
According to independent research by TNS (October 2007), Chelsea is the most popular Premier League team in Russia with an estimated 10 million fans. This was part of the same research that estimated Chelsea had a global fan base of 90 million.
The club has also recently partnered with the National Academy of Football in Russia to produce a local language version of Chelsea’s website, www.chelsea-fc.ru .
The announcement of Chelsea’s participation in the Moscow tournament is the latest in a number of pre-season matches to be confirmed. Chelsea will play in Guangzhou, China on July 23 and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 29. Another game on July 26 in Asia is still to be confirmed.
