THE BLOG BY CPD FOOTBALL | The World of Indian football and beyond by Chris Punnakkattu Daniel

FC Bayern Munich depart for United States tour

FC Bayern München head office at the Säbener Straße in Munich, Germany. (© CPD Football)

Following Saturday’s victory in the friendly against Paris Saint-Germain in Klagenfurt, FC Bayern Munich started their Audi Summer Tour 2018 to the USA on Monday morning. The team plane left Munich at 08:30 CEST for Philadelphia, where the German record champions face their Italian counterparts Juventus on Wednesday. US-based fans can look forward to seeing Arjen Robben, Franck Ribéry, Kingsley Coman, Serge Gnabry and Javí Martínez, among others.

As well as FC Bayern’s World Cup players, who are still on post-tournament vacation, Arturo Vidal will unfortunately not be able to go on the tour. The Chilean is continuing to work on his comeback in Munich after knee surgery in April. The pros will instead be supported in the states by numerous young players from the FC Bayern Campus. In all, Niko Kovac is taking 25 players on the tour.

In addition to Philadelphia, FCB travel to Miami for a second friendly with English champions Manchester City on 28 July. James Rodríguez will also join the team in Miami, but will not be able to play due to a lack of training. The players are expected back in Munich two days later.

FC Bayern Munich – Audi Summer Tour 2018 Squad

Goalkeepers
26 Sven Ulreich, 36 Christian Früchtl, 39 Ron-Thorben Hoffmann

Defenders
13 Rafinha, 14 Juan Bernat, 33 Jonathan Meier, 34 Chris Richards, 38 Josip Stanisic

Midfielders
7 Franck Ribéry, 8 Javi Martínez, 10 Arjen Robben, 15 Maximilian Zaiser, 16 Ryan Johansson, 20 Oliver Batista-Meier, 22 Serge Gnabry, 27 David Alaba, 28 Paul Will, 29 Kingsley Coman, 30 Wooyeong Jeong, 31 Marcel Zylla, 35 Renato Sanches, 37 Meritan Shabani

Forwards
2 Sandro Wagner, 3 Kwasi Okyere Wriedt, 40 Joshua Zirkzee

(FC Bayern München)