Welcome back: Chelsea football club Chief Executive Officer Ron Gourlay (second from left) hands over the club’s jersey to Football Association of Malaysia Vice President Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal during a news conference in Kuala Lumpur Wednesday. -SAM THAM /The Star

PETALING JAYA: English Premier League giants Chelsea have confirmed that they will be here for a friendly on July 21 as part of their pre-season tour for the 2013/14 season.

This will be the Blues’ fourth visit to Malaysia since 2003 and they’ll play a friendly against a Malaysian Selection at the Shah Alam Stadium.

The London club will also face a Thailand All-Star team on July 17 in Bangkok before taking on Malaysia four days later.

They’ll conclude their tour with a match against Indonesian Selection on July 25 at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta.

Fans will also be able to catch Chelsea stars like Eden Hazard, Demba Ba and Gary Cahill on their maiden visit here.

Other familiar faces include the likes of goalkeeper Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Branislav Ivanovic and Chelsea captain John Terry, who was part of the team’s playing tour in 2003, when they lifted the Premier League Asia Cup.

“The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) have been supportive of development in the game and Chelsea’s tour is regarded as an essential and positive part of football development,” said FAM vice-president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal at a press conference at the Saujana Hotel yesterday.

Chelsea chief executive officer Ron Gourlay said they were pleased to return to Kuala Lumpur due to their large fan base here.

“It’s fantastic news that we’ll be adding Kuala Lumpur to our already confirmed matches in Bangkok and Jakarta this summer,” said Gourlay.

“We have a wonderful fan base here and we’ve always received great reception every time we visit … so it’s good to be back and we’re really looking forward to our stay.

“We’ll be here for five days and will spend some time with the fans, giving them an opportunity for meet-and-greet sessions.”

Chelsea are the second big team from Europe to have confirmed their date with Malaysian fans.

On Tuesday, Spanish League champions Barcelona confirmed that they will be making their maiden trip here on Aug 10.

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