The Kansas City Wizards and Kansas City Chiefs announced Wednesday that additional upper-level tickets have been released for Sunday’s friendly against Manchester United due to high demand. The tickets will cost $20 and are available immediately through Ticketmaster.com, by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000 or at any area Ticketmaster outlet. Special packages are also available through the Kansas City Wizards and can be purchased by calling 1-888-4KC-GOAL. The exhibition match will be the first-ever event at the New Arrowhead Stadium.
“Fan response for our match against Manchester United has been tremendous,” Wizards President Robb Heineman said. “The great crowd we are expecting Sunday will reinforce that Kansas City is a premier soccer city and that the New Arrowhead Stadium will make an ideal host venue if the FIFA World Cup comes to the United States in 2018 or 2022.”
The list of international superstars coming to Kansas City includes legendary midfielders Ryan Giggs (Wales) and Paul Scholes (England), as well as Edwin Van der Sar (Holland), Nani (Portugal) and Dimitar Berbatov (Bulgaria). Giggs is the only player in English football history to win 11 Premier League championship medals. This record is the equivalent of an American football player winning 11 Super Bowl rings or a baseball player capturing 11 World Series titles.
The Manchester United match provides another opportunity for Kansas Citians to show their passion for the sport as part of the highly successful Summer of Soccer. Over 30,000 soccer fans gathered for World Cup watch parties in the Kansas City Power & Light District. The crowd for the USA-Ghana Round of 16 match was shown live on ABC’s game broadcast and seen by over 15 million people in the U.S.
Fans can show their support for the bid to bring the World Cup to Kansas City by texting “KansasCity” to 22442 or signing the petition online at www.goUSAbid.com/KC. Kansas City is one of 18 cities still in the running to host matches should the USA bid to host the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup be successful. FIFA will select the host nation for both 2018 and 2022 on December 2, 2010.
MANCHESTER UNITED 2010 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR ROSTER
GOALKEEPERS: Ben Amos (ENG), Tomasz Kuszczak (POL), Edwin van de Sar (NED)
DEFENDERS: Wes Brown (ENG), Fabio Da Silva (BRA), Rafael Da Silva (BRA), Ritchie De Laet (BEL), Corry Evans (NIR), Jonny Evans (NIR), John O'Shea (IRL), Chris Smalling (ENG)
MIDFIELDERS: Tom Cleverley (ENG), Darren Fletcher (SCO), Darron Gibson (IRL), Ryan Giggs (WAL), Nani (POR), Gabriel Obertan (FRA), Paul Scholes (ENG)
FORWARDS: Dimitar Berbatov (BUL), Mame Biram Diouf (SEN), Javier Hernandez (MEX) [will join in Houston on 27 July], Federico Macheda (ITA), Danny Welbeck (ENG)
MANAGER: Sir Alex Ferguson
