Inter Milan To Play Manchester City in Baltimore on July 31st

Baltimore, MD - Baltimore City and Maryland state sports promoters are bringing the world’s game back to Baltimore for the second straight year.

A July 31 international soccer exhibition at M&T Bank Stadium will pit Inter Milan, of Italy’s top soccer league, against Manchester City, a member of the English Premier League, according to sources familiar with the deal.

A formal announcement, including ticket information, will be made at a press conference scheduled for May 17 at M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens.

Manchester City is a rival of Manchester United, arguably the most well-known soccer club in the world. Inter Milan, meanwhile, will play in the European Champions League final against Bayern Munich in Madrid on May 22.

This year’s Baltimore "friendly," scheduled for a Saturday night, should allow promoter CAA to tap into a deep international population located throughout the Baltimore-Washington region. The Baltimore exhibition will take place just weeks after the FIFA World Cup, the world’s largest sporting event, ends in South Africa.

Officials from the city and state, as well as the Ravens, have made bringing an international soccer match back to town a top priority.

A.C. Milan and Chelsea played an exhibition last July in front of 71,000 fans at a sold-out M&T Bank Stadium, in a game that showcased Baltimore as a perennial soccer city to the world. The success of the game led to Baltimore making a pitch to host World Cup games in 2018 or 2022 and the Maryland Stadium Authority approving a $100,000 study to explore the viability of building a professional soccer stadium in the city.

It will be a good opportunity for Kenyan fans in the region to watch their own McDonald Mariga play. Mariga was signed by AC Milan in February of this year and made history by being the first Kenyan to play in the UEFA Champion League on March 16, 2010.
 

http://baltimore.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2010/05/10/daily18.html