International Champions Cup 2018 preview: Man United, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Barcelona among elite teams in pre-season tournament.
The elite of European football are jetting off far and wide for their pre-season preparations in the coming weeks.
And once again, the International Champions Cup is the competition they all seem to want to participate in.
Now in its sixth year, the competition has become to go-to tournament for managers who want their pre-season friendlies to be as competitive and useful as possible.
So who is taking part in this year's International Champions Cup, where will the matches be played and how can I watch it? Here's everything you need to know.
- What is the International Champions Cup?
The International Champions Cup (ICC) is a competition for leading European clubs played out in pre-season at venues right across the globe.
Though the format has evolved and expanded since the first iteration in 2013, the objective remains that elite clubs get to face other elite clubs in front of a different audience to the norm.
With each team playing three matches, they can be ordered into a league table format at the end, adding a small element of competition to pre-season preparations.
On the same day, Manchester City play Bayern Munich in what is being branded as the 'Audi Football Summit' in Miami.
United then take on Real Madrid, also in Miami, on July 31, while Real also meet Juventus in Maryland on August 4.
Arsenal and Chelsea will play a 'London Derby' in the Aviva Stadium, Dublin on August 1.
- What happens at the end?
With all of the 18 participating teams set to play three matches, they can be ranked in a table.
The best-ranked side will be crowned champions and receive the International Champions Cup trophy.
In previous years, there have been separate winners for each continent where matches were played, but the tournament has been unified this time around.
Real Madrid are historically the most successful club in the ICC with three wins.
- Where can I watch the games?
In the UK, all the matches except for those involving Manchester United will be screened live by Premier Sports.
The three games involving United will be shown live by their in-house channel MUTV with delayed coverage of the game on Premier Sports.
LFCTV will also be screening Liverpool's matches live.
Premier Sports is available on Sky and Virgin Media platforms at a cost of £9.99 per month.
Alternatively, you can buy a Premier Player pass to watch the channel online, also for £9.99 per month, and that might not be a bad investment to keep yourself entertained before the season begins.
- Will the World Cup have an impact?
Yes, the late return of players who were in the World Cup to pre-season training is definitely going to have an impact on ticket sales and international interest.
Certain blockbuster games, such as the Manchester United vs Real Madrid game in Miami, were deliberately scheduled for later in the tournament so as many big names as possible can take part.
But it's inevitable that many of the games will feature second string teams as those who went to Russia lounge on the beach.
INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONS CUP SCHEDULE 2018:
Date Kick-off (UK) Teams Venue
July 21st: 2am Man City vs Borussia Dortmund Soldier Field, Chicago
July 21st: 3pm Bayern Munich vs PSG Worthersee Stadion, Klagenfurt
July 22nd: 9pm Liverpool vs Borussia Dortmund Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte
July 26th: Midnight Juventus vs Bayern Munich Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
July 26th: 1am Borussia Dortmund vs Benfica Heinz Field, Pittsburgh
July 26th: 1am Man City vs Liverpool MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford
July 26th: 3am Roma vs Tottenham Hotspur SDCCU Stadium, San Diego
July 26th: 4am Milan vs Manchester United StubHub Center, Carson
July 26th: 12.30pm Atletico Madrid vs Arsenal Singapore National Stadium
July 28th: 12.30pm Arsenal vs PSG Singapore National Stadium
July 28th 6pm Benfica vs Juventus Red Bull Arena, Harrison
July 28th: 7pm Chelsea vs Inter Milan Allianz Riviera, Nice
July 28th: 10pm Manchester United vs Liverpool Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor
July 29th Midnight Bayern Munich vs Man City Hard Rock Stadium, Miami
July 29th: 4am Barcelona vs Tottenham Hotspur Rose Bowl, Pasadena
July 30th: 12.30pm PSG vs Atletico Madrid Singapore National Stadium
August 1st: 1am Manchester United vs Real Madrid Hard Rock Stadium, Miami
August 1st: 1.30am Tottenham Hotspur vs Milan US Bank Stadium, Minneapolis
August 1st: 3am Barcelona vs Roma AT&T Stadium, Arlington
August 1st: 8pm Arsenal vs Chelsea Aviva Stadium, Dublin
August 1st: 9pm Benfica vs Lyon Estadio Algarve, Faro
August 4th: 7pm Inter Milan vs Lyon Via Del Mare, Lecce
August 4th: 11pm Real Madrid vs Juventus FedExField, Washington
August 5th 1am Milan vs BarcelonaL evi's Stadium, Santa Clara
August 7th: 8pm Chelsea vs Lyon Stamford Bridge, London
August 8th: 1am Real Madrid vs Roma MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford
August 11th: 8pm Atletico Madrid vs Inter Milan Wanda Metropolitano, Madrid
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