It’s official: Two of England’s biggest clubs are crossing the pond this summer. Arsenal and Chelsea Women, along with the Washington Spirit, announced Monday that the WSL powerhouses are adding a stop in Washington D.C. to their pre-season United States tour.
As part of the stop, Arsenal will play a friendly against the Spirit on August 18. On August 25, the Spirit will host both English clubs for a historic double-header: The Spirit will face the Kansas City Current for a regular-season match, followed by a cross-Atlantic derby between Arsenal and Chelsea in Washington’s Audi Field.
The two matches are in addition to Chelsea’s friendly against NJ/NY Gotham FC in Red Bull Arena on August 19, which was announced last month. The preseason matches will also be Chelsea’s first under new head coach Sonia Bompastor, who left Lyon to replace current USWNT coach Emma Hayes.
The matches, first reported by ESPN last month, will represent both Chelsea and Arsenal’s first foray into the States.
The cross-league matchups demonstrate a high-profile preseason for the two clubs, who both ended in the top three teams of the WSL for the 11th consecutive season. Chelsea also won the league this year, marking its fifth straight season of doing so.
