Latest major Liverpool announcement could be crucial next step in FSG grand plan

Having sold out both their pre-season games against Arsenal and Manchester United in the United States this summer it was little surprise that Liverpool added a third date.

On Tuesday it was announced that the Reds would play Spanish La Liga side Real Betis on Friday, July 26, at the Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the home 68,400-seater arena of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers.

It is the third US city on the tour for Liverpool, and another new place to visit having played in New York, Boston, and South Bend the last time the club was stateside in 2019.

Liverpool’s game with Arsenal is to take place at the 67,594-seater Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia (July 31), home of the Philadelphia Eagles NFL team, while the game with United will be contested at the 77,559 capacity Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina, the home arena of the NCAA Division One college football team that represents the University of South Carolina, the South Carolina Gamecocks.

How Liverpool plan to crack the US as 'huge' opportunity lies ahead

How Liverpool became the most popular Premier League club in America

Premier League clubs heading to the US isn’t a new phenomenon, but it is one that has become increasingly important in recent years and one that is likely to hot up even further over the course of the next decade as England’s biggest clubs jostle for supremacy in a market that is now cottoning on to European football in a big way.

The FIFA World Cup comes to the US in 2026 and there is a race among the world’s biggest clubs to make sure that they are doing all they can to lead the way ahead of the tournament.

Of the so-called ‘big six’ clubs, only Tottenham Hotspur are shunning a US pre-season tour in 2024,