Arsenal Football Club has announced that it will become the first ever Premier League team to play a match in Vietnam, with the first-team squad visiting Hanoi in July as part of the Club’s pre-season Asia Tour 2013. According to their press release, the match against the Vietnam national team will take place at the 40,000 seat My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi on Wednesday, July 17.

Negotiations between Arsenal and the Vietnam Football Federation kicked off in March, when Club executives travelled to Hanoi.

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis said:

“Arsenal has so many loyal supporters in Asia and we are delighted to be visiting Vietnam in July to play a match in Hanoi. Everyone at Arsenal is proud to be the first Premier League team to play a match in Vietnam and to be spending time in this wonderful country. Arsène Wenger, the players and all the staff have hugely enjoyed our tours to Asia in the past two years, and we are all looking forward to visiting Vietnam as part of our Asia Tour 2013.”

The visit is part of Arsenal’s Asia Tour 2013, where the club will visit Indonesia and Japan in addition to Vietnam. For Japan, it will be the first time in over 40 years that the country has seen league play.

The Asia Tour 2013 will be Arsenal’s third successive pre-season trip to Asia. In July 2011, the Arsenal first-team squad visited Hangzhou, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

For more information, visit www.arsenal.com/asiatour2013.