More club international friendlies for Asia

Real Madrid's pre-season fixture with the Malaysian national team expected to be conformed for 21 August. As this is in the middle of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, the game will likely be played at 10 pm.

Malaysia is also to play a friendly match on 17 July against the Welsh club Cardiff City which plays in the English Championship. Cardiff was recently taken over by Malaysian businessmen Tan Sri Vincent Tan and Chan Tien Ghee. The club recently lost against Blackpool FC to gain promotion to the English Premier League. If it had been successful, it would have been the first non-English club to play in the Premiership, the world's leading domestic football league.

Australian A-League club, Melbourne Victory, will host Argentinean powerhouse, Boca Juniors in a pre-season friendly at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne on 16 July.

Australian A-League club, Sydney FC, will host a four team tournament from 25-31 July at the Sydney Football Stadium. The competing foreign clubs are English Premier league club Blackburn Rovers, Scottish Premier League Champions Glasgow Rangers and 11-time Greek Champion club AEK Athens.

Listen to Geoffrey Gold’s Asian football briefs every Friday morning on Radio Australia International.