Tottenham Hotspur will face AS Roma in their final pre-season match which will take place in Israel, the club announced on Friday.
The north London football club will travel to the coastal city of Haifa for the match on Saturday, July 30 at the 30,780-capacity Sammy Ofer Stadium, concluding the team’s preparations for the 2022/23 season.
This will be the club’s seventh visit to Israel, with the most recent visit taking place in November 2007 when they played in the UEFA Cup against Hapoel Tel Aviv.
It will also be just the fourth time in its history that the club is up against Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma, having faced the Italian team in pre-season matches in 2008, 2017, and 2018.
The game in Haifa will be part of the I-Tech Cup, which is a format created by organisers MTR7 - a sporting events enterprise focused on football-centred projects - to showcase local technologies, something that Israel is world-famous for.
The visit is not just for football, however – players and club ambassadors will spend time meeting fans in Israel, supporting various causes, and immersing themselves in Israeli culture.
In particular, Tottenham’s Global Football Development coaches plan on supporting projects that bring Palestinian and Israeli children together, which the club says will use “the power of football to unite those from different social, ethnic and religious backgrounds”.
Coaches will also deliver a technical training program for local players, as well as coach education workshops, sharing new methods from the club’s academy.
The announcement been praised on social media, but there was some criticism, with a petition already started demanding that the club boycott Israel. It has attracted 88 signatures at the time of writing.
Fabio Paratici, Managing Director, Football at Tottenham Hotspur, said: “We are delighted to be heading to Israel as the final part of our pre-season preparations and I would like to thank MTR7 for providing the opportunity for the Club to visit in July.
“We are looking forward to an exciting fixture against a strong opponent in AS Roma. It will provide good preparation for the start of the new season the following weekend, as we look to build on a strong 2021/22 season.”
In the UK, the match will be broadcast live on the club’s own ‘Spursplay’ channel, which is launching this summer.
All of the club’s other pre-season fixtures will also be broadcast on the channel, including two matches in South Korea on July 13 and July 16, and a game against Scottish side Rangers at Ibrox on July 23.
