Barcelona will not travel to Japan this Thursday due to a contractual breach

Barcelona (EFE).- FC Barcelona will not travel this Thursday to Japan, where this Sunday it was supposed to play against Vissel Kobe, due to “a serious breach of contract” by the promoter of the match, as announced this Wednesday by the Catalan club in a statement. However, the Blaugrana entity will consider readjusting the summer tour in South Korea, where it would have to play two more matches: FC Seoul (July 31) and Daegu (August 4). FC Barcelona assures that for this to happen, “certain conditions must be met by the promoter” and, “if they are met, the Club will travel to South Korea in the coming days.” The club regrets “this incident”. In any case, the Blaugrana club regrets “this incident”, as well as “the impact on the numerous community of Blaugrana fans in Japan”. According to information from the newspaper Sport, D-Drive, a company based in Seoul, is in charge of organizing Barça’s Asian tour. Its CEO is Ham Seul, who already worked with the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) during the presidency of Luis Rubiales (2018-2023). Rubiales was convicted in early 2025 of sexual assault after the trial held following the complaint for the non-consensual kiss given to the soccer player Jenni Hermoso -now a player for the Mexican Tigres UANL-, after the 2023 World Cup win by the Spanish women’s soccer team. Among D-Drive’s executives, according to the same version, are the former director of the national team, Albert Luque, as head of the ‘tour project’, and the former professional tennis player Fernando Soler, who is also part of the management team.