Celtic announce Japan tour fixture; opponents, date, Ange Postecoglou and Daizen Maeda react

By Patrick Sinat

May 9, 2023

After tieing up the league title on Sunday, Celtic are now looking forward to the summer where they have organised a tour of Japan and South Korea.

Celtic announced this morning that Yokohama F Marinos will await the Hoops in the first fixture in Japan. Celtic will face the J League club at the Nissan Stadium on Wednesday 19^th of July.

The fixture means Ange Postecoglou returns to his old club and the Celtic manager is looking forward to it.

Ange said [CelticFC], “I’m delighted to be taking Celtic to Japan this summer and it’s a tour made even more special by the prospect of facing my old team, Yokohama F. Marinos.

“It’s a great club that holds some special memories for me and I look forward to meeting up with friends there in July.”

Former Yokohama player and current Celtic winger Daizen Maeda is also looking forward to catching up with his old friends in July.

Maeda said, “I’m really looking forward to our pre-season visit to Japan and in particular, returning to play against Yokohama F. Marinos.

“It is a club which has played a major role in my career and, of course, it will be a pleasure to return home with Celtic and see my friends at the club and the Marinos supporters.”

Yuki Kobayashi will also get to face his old club as the Japanese defender spent a season on loan with Marinos in 2020.

Celtic are also due to travel to South Korea as part of their summer tour to face English Premier League side Wolves on the 26th of July at the Suwon World Cup Stadium.

Tickets for the match between Yokohama F. Marinos and Celtic on Wednesday, July 19 are available from https://w.pia.jp/t/celtic-japantour2023 from Friday 12th of May. Kick-off is at 7pm Japan time.

No pricing details for the tickets have yet been released.

In other news, SFA give referee his second ever Glasgow Derby this weekend