AS Roma’s summer trip to S. Korea canceled

Published : Jun 30, 2023 - 18:57 Updated : Jun 30, 2023 - 18:57

AS Roma’s Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum (R) comes on for AS Roma’s Argentinian forward Paulo Dybala during the UEFA Europa League final football match between Sevilla FC and AS Roma at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary on May 31, 2023. (AFP-Yonhap)

A summer exhibition tour by the Italian football club AS Roma has been canceled.

Stadium X, the local promoter for the proposed preseason trip, announced Friday AS Roma’s matches against the Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers and the K League 1 side Incheon United will not take place as scheduled.

The announcement comes on the heels of a report in Italian media over the weekend that AS Roma would not travel to South Korea because local organizers had not delivered on financial commitments. On Thursday, Wolves announced they would withdraw from the trip because of unmet financial obligations.

AS Roma, the Europa League finalists coached by Jose Mourinho, had been scheduled to play Wolves on July 29 and Incheon United on Aug. 1, both in the western city of Incheon. And Wolves, featuring South Korean international Hwang Hee-chan, had been set to face the Scottish champions Celtic, with another South Korean player, Oh Hyeon-gyu, on the squad, on July 26 in Suwon, about 45 kilometers south of Seoul.

Stadium X added it was still working on scheduling a match between Celtic and Incheon United.

The promoter first sought to invite five European clubs to South Korea this summer, with the Italian champions Napoli and Spanish club RCD Mallorca being the other two. Napoli were led by South Korean defender Kim Min-jae in their title-winning season, while Mallorca featured popular South Korean midfielder Lee Kang-in.

Napoli and Mallorca were to meet twice in June, but those matches were scrapped in May because of scheduling conflicts with the K League 1 and financial issues.

Two more clubs have bit the dust, and Wolves in particular blamed the local promoter for not honoring “numerous financial and logistical obligations.”

Stadium X, on the other hand, claimed on Friday its agreement with the clubs only required an advance payment accounting for 70 percent of the fee by the end of June, with the remaining 30 percent to be paid after the matches. The company said AS Roma and Wolverhampton demanded a 100 percent payment up front and canceled their trips unilaterally.

“We’d like to offer our sincere apology to football fans for not being able to bring them these great matches,” Stadium X said in a statement. “We will now try our best to make the Celtic-Incheon match happen.” (Yonhap)