FC Barcelona, the champions of the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup, and Korea's K-League All Star team will face off at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Aug. 4, K-League President Kwak Chung-hwan and Joan Oliver, chief executive of FC Barcelona, said at a press conference in Seoul.
The match was organized to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between South Korean and Spain. The team is scheduled to arrive two days prior to the match.
"For us, football is not only about wining or losing ... it's also about building bridges between countries, cultures and between the people," Oliver said.
"We look forward for this match not only as a football match, but also an opportunity to build the relationship between the Korean people and the Spanish people."
The visit will mark FC Barcelona's second friendly in South Korea. It held an exhibition with Suwon Samsung in 2004.
Oliver said he hopes to bring all of his players, including top-billed striker Lionel Messi, for the exhibition but noted that unforeseen events, such as injuries, at the South African World Cup could affect the roster.
"We will be here with all of our team. The only risk we have is that, as you know, this summer there is the World Cup, and we don't know what will happen in this World Cup. But that said, we'll be here with all of our players," he said.
When asked on his assessment on the overall level of South Korea's national football squad, Oliver said that he sees South Korea as "probably the strongest Asian team" and expected it to perform very well at the South Africa World Cup finals in June.
"I still remember what happened in 2002 when Korea defeated Spain in the World Cup. My feeling right now is that Korea is probably the strongest Asian team," he said.//Yonhap
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com