Celtic to visit Korea this summer

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Celtic to visit Korea this summer

Published: 03 May. 2023, 08:04 Updated: 03 May. 2023, 17:54

Celtic will visit Korea in July as part of a pre-season Asian tour, the club announced Tuesday in an image posted on its official Twitter account. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Korean forward Oh Hyeon-gyu and the rest of the Celtic squad will visit Korea this summer as part of a pre-season tour, the club announced Tuesday.

“OH yes!,” the club announced in a Tweet on Tuesday. “Celtic FC will also travel to Korea this summer on our pre-season tour! More details to follow in the coming days...”

The Korea leg of the pre-season tour was revealed hours after Celtic announced that they would be traveling to Japan in July.

The Tweet announcing the visit to Korea was accompanied by a video of Oh appearing to read the announcement of the Japan tour, check a map to see how close Japan was to Korea and then head into the manager’s office to request the extra stop.

Official dates for the Japan tour have not been announced yet, but the Korean leg is likely to come immediately before or after a longer Japan stop.

Celtic currently have five Japanese players: Forwards Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda, midfielders Reo Hatate and Tomoki Iwata and defender Yuki Kobayashi. A sixth player, Yosuke Ideguchi, is currently out on loan.

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou also has a close relationship with the J League, having coached the Yokohama F. Marinos from 2018 to 2021.

Oh, meanwhile, is the only Korean player on the Celtic squad, having joined from the Suwon Samsung Bluewings during the January transfer window. He is the third Korean ever to play for the club, after Ki Sung-yueng and Cha Du-ri.

Celtic are the third club to announce a stop in Korea this summer. Manchester City and Atletico Madrid are also visiting this summer as part of the Coupang Play Series, an annual exhibition game series started last year that brought Tottenham Hotspur and Sevilla to the country for its first edition.

City and Atletico will also be in Korea in July, although exact dates have not yet been confirmed. Neither team currently has a Korea player.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]