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Tottenham Hotspur could be heading back to USA for a preseason tournament! The Times of London is reporting today that Spurs in the process of negotiating for their participation in the International Champions Cup, along with fellow Premier League rivals Manchester City and Manchester United.
The deal is apparently not quite confirmed, but high-level discussions are underway with an eye to announcing the return to the States at the end of March.
The International Champions Cup is a preseason exhibition tour-slash-tournament that takes place in North America, China, and Australia with a number of high profile clubs participating. Last year, Spurs participated in the Australian location, and played friendly matches against Juventus and Atletico Madrid, and A-League club Sydney FC.
The North American tournament is the bigger, more high profile one. Last year’s ICC included Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, Celtic, Liverpool, Leicester City, Chelsea, and PSG.
Manchester United and Manchester City had already announced their participation in the ICC, with Spurs likely to join them, though the Times notes that they have other offers on the table as well. While the ICC hasn’t officially announced which teams will participate, Real Madrid and Barcelona are also expected to participate in the American tournament again.
Tottenham have been to America twice in the past four years. Spurs organized an American tour in the summer of 2014, playing friendly matches in Chicago, Seattle, and Toronto. One year later, Spurs were the featured opponent for the 2015 MLS All-Star Game in Denver.
The ICC is a blatant preseason cash-grab fake tournament, but it does give the involved clubs a broader international exposure and a chance to play football matches in other parts of the world. Tottenham in particular views America as a fertile ground for new interest in football and in the club, so coming back to the USA as often as possible makes a heck of a lot of sense.
While the ICC hasn’t formally announced the locations of the tournament, the Orlando Sentinal previously announced that some ICC matches will be played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando in 2017 & 2018.