Chelsea gets chance to build base in Russia

A strong preseason tournament field will be assembled in Moscow before next season, giving English Chelsea the opportunity to draw more fans in Russia.

Chelsea, Italian AC Milan and Spanish Sevilla will come together in Moscow 1 Aug. through 3 Aug. for the second annual Russian Railways Cup, hosted by Lokomotiv Moscow. The matches will be staged in a knockout format.

It will be Chelsea's first preseason journey to Russia, and the club has hinted that it would like to widen its fan base in the area via the tournament, which will be held at Lokomotiv's capacity 28,800 Central Stadium.

The English club already has a jump on expanding its fane base. TNS research in Oct. 2007 revealed that Chelsea is the most popular club in Russia, with an estimated 10 million fans. That same research estimated Chelsea's global fan base at 90 million.

Chelsea has put together a busy preseason schedule already. The club will play in Guangzhou, China 23 July, and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 29 July. Another match is pending in Asia on 26 July.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.