FC Barcelona cancels match vs. Juventus set for Levi’s Stadium
FC Barcelona said a "significant part" of its team has the stomach flu, leaving Saturday's scheduled opponent Juventus to hold a training session for fans instead.
The highly anticipated matchup of global soccer superpowers at Levi’s Stadium on Saturday night appears to be canceled.
Less than 10 hours before the match was set to begin, FC Barcelona announced that the match against Juventus as part of the Soccer Champions Tour has been canceled after a “significant part” of their team has the stomach flu.
FC Barcelona hereby informs that the game against Juventus FC, scheduled for today, July 22 at 7:30 PM at Levi’s Stadium, as part of the Soccer Champions Tour, has been canceled. A significant part of the blaugrana squad has a viral gastroenteritis. pic.twitter.com/vnpmhFFucX
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 22, 2023
The announcement came via Barcelona’s social media accounts at 10:09 a.m. this morning. Other videos on social media show that Barcelona was in Los Angeles on Friday, which included an evening training session at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
More than an hour later, Juventus announced that the Italian side will host a training session at 6:30 p.m. instead of the match. As of 11:25 a.m. on Saturday, no official word on what was happening or if refunds will be available had come from the 49ers, Levi’s Stadium or the Soccer Champions Tour.
UPDATE | In place of the initially scheduled match against Barcelona, the team will hold a training session at 18:30 PT at Levi's Stadium.
— JuventusFC
(@juventusfcen) July 22, 2023
It’s the first match that both squads are set to play in the United States in the coming weeks. Barcelona are set to face off with their Spanish archrivals Real Madrid at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Saturday, July 29.
Juventus will then face Real Madrid in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday, August 2. They will also play fellow Italian side AC Milan in Carson, California on Thursday, July 27.
For Bay Area soccer residents, it’s a damper on what was expected to be the final major match of a summer of high-level soccer events in Santa Clara. Levi’s Stadium has hosted two prior matches this summer — the Earthquakes beating LAFC on May 6 and Mexico’s 1-0 loss to Qatar in the CONCACAF Gold Cup earlier this month — and was set to use the Barcelona-Juventus match as a major test event for the 2026 Men’s World Cup. There was also the Quakes’ annual match at Stanford Stadium against the LA Galaxy and the U.S. women’s national team playing their lone send-off match at San Jose’s PayPal Park ahead of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Barcelona has previously played at Levi’s Stadium in friendlies twice before, facing Manchester United in 2015 and AC Milan in 2018.
This story will be updated.