Celtic announce pre-season plans with tour of Japan this summer

Celtic have confirmed that the team will travel to Japan this summer as part of their pre-season programme.

Ange Postecoglou and his players will have a training camp in Europe before heading east for a week-long stay in Japan. The club later added that they will also be visiting South Korea as part of the tour.

The opposition for the games in Japan have yet to be confirmed but manager Ange Postecoglou said that his side will face “real tests” ahead of the new season. Previous reports have suggested that Paris St Germain, Manchester City and Bayern Munich could also be part of a friendly tournament.

The trip will also be a homecoming for Celtic’s Japanese contingent, with Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate, Yuki Kobayashi, Tomoki Iwata and Yosuke Ideguchi all part of Postecoglou’s squad.

“We are really looking forward to our summer tour to Japan, and we’re sure it will be hugely successful for the club and excellent preparation for next season,” the Celtic manager said.

“Clearly, Celtic has a real, long-standing connection with Japan, through previous visits and players such as Shunsuke Nakamura and, of course, now through our current squad members, so it will be great to visit and really bring this relationship to life.

“As we saw from our brilliant visit to Australia last year, the appetite for Celtic globally is huge and it is right that we maximise these great opportunities and show the world all that is great about our club.

“We wanted to pay respect to Japanese football so we are delighted to be engaging with the J-League and its clubs.

“Japanese football is on a real upward trajectory at the moment, so we know we will be facing real tests, something which will be great for the team as we go into the challenges of next season.”

Celtic last travelled to Japan in 2006 during Shunsuke Nakamura’s time at the club.