Manchester City’s 2026 preseason tour will open a new chapter for the club: its first season without Pep Guardiola in charge in a decade. The team will play three matches in Asia, including two in Seoul, as it prepares for a season that begins without last summer’s Club World Cup schedule. That change matters beyond the travel plan: preseason is where a new coach starts shaping routines, testing combinations and deciding what needs work before competitive fixtures begin. The tour gives Enzo Maresca an early public stage, though friendly matches can reveal only so much about how a team will perform when points are at stake.
Two matches in Seoul
City will meet the K-League All Stars at Seoul World Cup Stadium on August 5, then face Atlético Madrid on August 9. The first match offers a meeting with a selection representing South Korean league talent; the second brings a familiar European opponent into the schedule. That contrast gives the Seoul leg two different kinds of sporting interest, even if the results will carry limited weight in the early stages of preparation.
The Atlético fixture revisits the teams’ sold-out Seoul meeting in 2023, when Diego Simeone’s side beat Guardiola’s City. A repeat meeting can attract attention because supporters already have a point of comparison, but the circumstances are different: this is a new preseason and City will be starting a new campaign under a different manager. The earlier result gives the rematch a hook, not a reliable guide to what will happen in August.
Both games are part of the 2026 Coupang Play Series, South Korea’s flagship summer football event. They complete City’s Asian schedule, which already includes an August 1 match against Inter Milan in Hong Kong. For a club, a multi-stop tour can combine match preparation with time in key supporter markets, though the travel itself also has to fit around the practical demands of getting players ready. Three fixtures in Asia make this a substantial part of City’s preseason rather than a brief promotional stop.
The club’s return follows a successful visit in 2023, when thousands of fans watched an open training session and a capacity crowd attended the Atlético match. City Football Group Senior Vice President of Partnerships Peter Laundy said the club was pleased to return for two fixtures and spend more time with supporters in Korea. That emphasis on supporter contact is part of the tour’s purpose, alongside the matches. (And this is the part most people overlook.) A preseason event can be valuable to a club even when its football offers few firm conclusions about the season ahead.
A different preseason calendar
Last summer, City’s preparations were shaped by the Club World Cup in the United States. The team exited in the round of 16 against Al Hilal, and the tournament formed part of the calendar the club had to work around. This year, the club has more choice over where to begin preseason, giving the Asian trip a prominent role in its build-up. A less crowded schedule can create room to plan training and travel differently, but it doesn’t by itself guarantee an easier or more effective preparation.
Experience Abu Dhabi is presenting the tour, reflecting the commercial links around City Football Group and its international partners. South Korea’s football following and strong digital engagement have also made the country an important destination for preseason events. Those details help explain why the itinerary combines high-profile fixtures with time in a market where the club has a substantial audience. For supporters, the appeal is direct: a chance to see the team in person, with an open training session part of the draw on the previous visit.
There’s a limit to what a summer tour can tell observers. Preseason matches are played while teams are still building fitness and working through combinations, and the scorelines don’t settle questions about tactical direction or long-term performance. Still, the opponents and venues shape the setting in which a new staff and squad begin their work. A match against local all-star talent can present a different test from one against Atlético, whose team is associated with Simeone’s approach. The value lies as much in the preparation and adjustment as in the result.
What the tour could mean for City’s new campaign
The central storyline is the change in leadership. Guardiola’s decade in charge gives the transition unusual weight, while Maresca’s first campaign begins with an Asian tour that will put the team in front of supporters well before the competitive season. That doesn’t make the trip a verdict on the appointment. It does make the early signs of how City trains and plays more closely watched than they might be in a routine summer.
If you’re working in this space, the schedule is a useful reminder that preseason tours serve more than one audience. Coaches need match minutes and time to assess players; clubs also need to maintain relationships with supporters and commercial partners across regions. These aims can coexist, but they don’t always point to the same ideal itinerary. The balance between travel, recovery and training will matter, even though the available details don’t establish how the club will manage those demands.
This is more significant than it looks: City’s Asia schedule provides the first visible setting for a post-Guardiola season, while also continuing the club’s established engagement with South Korea. The Seoul fixtures offer a local selection and a high-profile rematch, and the Hong Kong match against Inter completes the announced three-game itinerary. Yet the clearest conclusions will have to wait until the competitive season begins. For now, the tour is a starting point. A prominent one.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at [email protected]