Premier League pre-season friendlies: Liverpool biggest travellers as clubs cover 177,000 miles on trips abroad
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Liverpool are travelling further than any other Premier League club this summer, with Brendan Rodgers' side covering over 24,000 miles in their pre-season expedition.
Read more: Premier League pre-season fixture schedule
Playing pre-season friendlies abroad has become something of a permanent fixture in the calendar of many Premier League clubs, with just three teams opting to stay in the UK during the preparation period.
In total Premier League clubs will rack up 177,620 miles on trips abroad.
Liverpool are playing showcase friendlies in front of fans in Thailand, Australia, Malaysia and Finland, covering 24,011 miles in the process.
With 21,647 miles to travel, Manchester City are the only other club set to cover more than 20,000 miles this summer, having also flown down under to face Roma and Real Madrid for the International Champions Cup in Melbourne.
For the second season running, the US is the most popular destination for Premier League teams – with seven clubs including champions Chelsea and newly-promoted Bournemouth all crossing the Atlantic to reach America's growing football fan base.
Manchester United will cover 10,960 miles on their second successive US tour – less than Arsenal who will cross 13,484 miles on a round trip to Singapore and even smaller clubs such as Stoke, Sunderland, Crystal Palace.
Of last season's top six, Chelsea and Tottenham have the smallest travel periods in pre-season after already visiting fans in South-East Asia and Australia on post-season tours in May and June.
Pre-season tours have become a delicate balancing act for top Premier League clubs who look to gain more fans, cement brand loyalty and fulfil commercial obligations by travelling abroad – not to mention make more money from merchandise and ticket sales – while at the same time drilling their squad into optimal condition ahead of the new season.
Read more: Manchester United chairman Ed Woodward eyes US market
Such a conflict was demonstrated when Louis van Gaal lamented the effect of a pre-season tour of America on his team's preparations.
"It’s not always easy to fulfil commercial and football expectations,” van Gaal said last summer. “That’s my big challenge…You have to travel distances, you have to fly a lot, you also have jetlag – that is not very positive for a good preparation."
Yet on the same tour, United set a new attendance record for football in the US – 109,310 fans watched them play Real Madrid in Michigan – and in doing so reinforced the benefit to commercial revenue such pre-season tours offer.
| Club | Distance travelled abroad | No. of pre-season friendlies | Longest trip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | 24,011m | 5 | Kuala Lumpur to Liverpool (6,644m) |
| Manchester City | 21,647m | 5 | Melbourne to Manchester (10,548m) |
| Stoke | 14,492m | 6 | Stoke to Singapore (6,804m) |
| Everton | 13,660m | 7 | Singapore to Liverpool (6,830m) |
| Arsenal | 13,484m | 4 | Singapore to London (6,742m) |
| Crystal Palace | 13,180m | 6 | Cape Town to London (6,011m) |
| Sunderland | 11,650m | 6 | Sunderland to Sacramento (5,077m) |
| Manchester United | 10,960m | 4 | Manchester to Seattle (4,624m) |
| Newcastle | 10,686m | 7 | Portland to Newcastle (4,960m) |
| Tottenham | 10,590m | 3 | London to Denver (4,724m) |
| West Brom | 10,081m | 7 | Birmingham to Colorado (4,260m) |
| Bournemouth | 8,480m | 7 | Bournemouth to Philadelphia (3,487m) |
| Chelsea | 7,805m | 4 | Washington to London (3,666m) |
| Southampton* | 2,029m | 7 | Leipzig to Southampton (684m) |
| Aston Villa | 1,632m | 6 | Birmingham to Braga (816m) |
| Swansea | 1,604m | 5 | Grassau to Swansea (802m) |
| Norwich | 1,098m | 7 | Norwich to Kufstein (549m) |
| Watford | 707m | 8 | Paderborn to London (381m) |
| West Ham* | – | – | Did not travel abroad |
| Leicester | – | – | Did not travel abroad |
*Does not include Europa League qualifying games.