Celtic were originally slated to participate in a pre-season tour across South Korea and Japan. However, Brendan Rodgers and Celtic are reportedly reconsidering the team’s participation in the South Korea leg due to the withdrawal of other European teams, such as Wolves and Jose Mourinho’s Roma, from the competition for financial reasons.”
The departure of these teams has left Celtic as the sole European representative in the pre-season tour, a situation which could potentially prompt their own withdrawal. Wolves’ decision to back out was largely driven by financial apprehensions about the tour, a sentiment echoed by Roma, who had earlier made the decision to withdraw. [SunSport]
There was hope Celtic could play local side Incheon but they dropped the plan when it became impossible to schedule a tie with any European club visiting in July.
The Japan tour looks still set to go ahead with Celtic visiting Yokohama Marinos. Both teams can now say they were formerly managed by Ange Postecoglou. Ange won the title with Yokohmama in the J-League which would eventually set him up for a move to Celtic where he won five trophies out of six in his two-year stint as Celtic boss.
Brendan Rodgers will be the man to take Celtic to Japan.
