Top Spanish BBVA Primera Liga club, Villarreal has announced that will visit Hong Kong at the end of the current season.

Villarreal, who are currently third in the Primera Liga, behind FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, have confirmed they will play Kitchee sports club on either 26 or 27th of May to celebrate the club’s 80th anniversary.

The news continues the good relations between Villarreal and the Chinese club, who played a preparation match against Villarreal’s B team in Spain last summer.

Kitchee is trained by a Catalan, Josep Gombau and has six Spanish footballers in its squad.

Villarreal’s Vice-President Jose Manuel Llaneza was delighted to be able to confirm the news of the visit.

“We have confirmed a friendly game at the end of May, when the league has finished. Kitchee is one of the most important clubs in Hong Kong and they have a lot of Spanish players in their squad,” said Llaneza on the Villarreal website.

Llaneza also discussed the economic impact for his club of playing a game in China.

“I think it is the opening of the doors to Asia. It represents the future. Asia has a huge potential in terms of population and they are very excited by football. I have been there and the effect of Spain’s win in the World Cup was very important for us to start negotiations.”

“We are taking the first step and others will follow in the future. It was the Chinese who were interested in Villarreal and although this is the first step, we will take others during the summer,” added Llaneza, who added that Villarreal had previously visited the city of Shanghai.

Other Spanish football teams are also taking a big interest in the Asian market and Real Madrid will visit the country this summer although they have yet to confirm their rivals and venues for their matches.

Source: huangiu.com

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