St. Louis CITY SC to open new CITYPARK stadium with Bayer Leverkusen fixture

Business

St. Louis CITY SC have announced they’ll open their brand new CITYPARK stadium with a friendly clash against Bundesliga giants Bayer Leverkusen in November.

The match will take place Wednesday, November 16, and will see the club’s MLS NEXT Pro team, St. Louis CITY 2, take on Leverkusen fresh from winning the Western Conference in their first-ever season.

A source has confirmed to 90min that members of the St. Louis City first team will also be available for the match.

For the first time, fans will be able to take in live action from their 22,500-capacity CITYPARK stadium, which will be the home of St. Louis CITY SC upon their arrival in Major League Soccer next season.

“An international friendly with a Champions League-caliber club is the perfect way to introduce our new world-class stadium and district to our fans, the greater soccer community and the world,” St. Louis CITY SC president and CEO Carolyn Kindle said in a club press release.

“The Bayer 04 friendly will be the first opportunity for fans to see a match in our new 22,500-seat stadium and sample our best-in-class STLMade fan experience, which will reflect St. Louis’ diverse culinary and music scene, ahead of our inaugural 2023 season.”

Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Friday, October 28 at 2pm (CST) on St. Louis CITY SC’s app. Presale access to the event will be available to CITY SC season ticket members and for myCITY+ members. To purchase tickets to the international friendly, go to seatgeek.com. 

“We are incredibly excited to be part of this historic event at CITYPARK with our friends at St. Louis CITY SC,” said Bayer Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro. “The history of the sport in St. Louis runs deep and the passion St. Louis CITY SC have already built up for the inaugural season with their fans and broader community is amazing to see.

”We look forward to being part of that energy and enthusiasm with this kick-off match at the new stadium and our second trip to North America in just six months as we continue to build the Bayer 04 brand in key markets around the world.”

St. Louis CITY are hard at work building the roster for their inaugural season, with head coach Bradley Carnell already adding Roman Burki, Kyle Heibert, Joakim Nilsson, Selmir Pidro, Isak Jensen, Eduard Lowen, Tomas Ostrak, Josh Yaro and Joao Klauss de Melo to his ranks.

“This match will not only be great for St. Louis, it will be a great test for our team and an amazing opportunity to step foot onto the field at CITYPARK for the first time,” said St. Louis CITY SC sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel. “We couldn’t think of a better way to showcase the new stadium with a match against a Champions League team like Leverkusen, especially a few days before the 2022 FIFA World Cup.”

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