Another Great Professional Soccer Event in Jax

[CityLife]

On January 17th, Jax will be hosting matches between two German clubs and two Brazilian clubs. The German clubs include Bayer Leverkusen and FC Koln and the Brazilian clubs include Corinthians and Fluminese. This is considerably bigger than Fulham or the MLS exhibitions we've gotten. Obviously nowhere near the US friendly's though.

Leverkusen are probably somewhere between one of the top 10-20 best club teams in the entire world (currently ranked 19 in UEFA's cumulative 5 year ranking). They've made the Champions League round of 16 two of the past 3 years and are on pace to do so again this season. They've got genuine star players like Heung Min-Son who is South Korea's best player; Hakan Calanghou, who is already one of the best free kick takers in the world at 20; and Lars Bender who would have played for Germany at the World Cup if he wasn't hurt. FC Koln are a really young team and will probably finish in the mid to lower half of the Bundesliga, which is a very competitive league. It's the 3rd best overall in Europe after Spain and England, but probably the deepest year in year out. Koln do have a great GK, Timo Horn who has a shot at being Germany's #1 someday.

Corinthians and Fluminese are big clubs in Brazil and combined have won 3 of the last 4 league titles. Corinthians have a couple decent players like Paolo Guerrero who played for Hamburg and Bayern Munich; Jadson who played for Shaktar; Nicolas Lodeiro who plays for Uruguay; Renato Augusto who played for Leverkusen; and Elias who has 17 caps for Brazil. Fluminese has Fred, Brazil's whipping boy at the last World Cup, but still a decent player; and an 18 year old phenom named Robert Kenedy (true story).

Germany takes a winter break, so this is really just a warmup for their teams before their season starts back up. Still a great event for Jax and an opportunity to see some very high level soccer.

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2014/11/04/brazil-and-germany-soccer-to-face-off-in.html

[Tacachale]

Wow, this is really cool.

[pierre]

Great event for Jacksonville

[Ajax]

On January 17th, Jax will be hosting matches between two German clubs and two Brazilian clubs. The German clubs include Bayer Leverkusen and FC Koln and the Brazilian clubs include Corinthians and Fluminese. This is considerably bigger than Fulham or the MLS exhibitions we've gotten. Obviously nowhere near the US friendly's though.

Leverkusen are probably somewhere between one of the top 10-20 best club teams in the entire world (currently ranked 19 in UEFA's cumulative 5 year ranking). They've made the Champions League round of 16 two of the past 3 years and are on pace to do so again this season. They've got genuine star players like Heung Min-Son who is South Korea's best player; Hakan Calanghou, who is already one of the best free kick takers in the world at 20; and Lars Bender who would have played for Germany at the World Cup if he wasn't hurt. FC Koln are a really young team and will probably finish in the mid to lower half of the Bundesliga, which is a very competitive league. It's the 3rd best overall in Europe after Spain and England, but probably the deepest year in year out. Koln do have a great GK, Timo Horn who has a shot at being Germany's #1 someday.

Corinthians and Fluminese are big clubs in Brazil and combined have won 3 of the last 4 league titles. Corinthians have a couple decent players like Paolo Guerrero who played for Hamburg and Bayern Munich; Jadson who played for Shaktar; Nicolas Lodeiro who plays for Uruguay; Renato Augusto who played for Leverkusen; and Elias who has 17 caps for Brazil. Fluminese has Fred, Brazil's whipping boy at the last World Cup, but still a decent player; and an 18 year old phenom named Robert Kenedy (true story).

Germany takes a winter break, so this is really just a warmup for their teams before their season starts back up. Still a great event for Jax and an opportunity to see some very high level soccer.

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2014/11/04/brazil-and-germany-soccer-to-face-off-in.html

Nice write-up!  I consider myself a pretty hardcore soccer fan, but I learned quite a bit from your post.  Thanks for the background on the teams.  Really looking forward to this, and I hope Jacksonville can have a strong showing so we can host more of these types of events.  I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for some Copa America games in 2016. 

[Gamblor]

Finally an opportunity to meet Lars Bender and lobby him to move to north London! He'd look great in an Arsenal jersey...

[Ajax]

Finally an opportunity to meet Lars Bender and lobby him to move to north London! He'd look great in an Arsenal jersey...

But will Arsene spend the money?  Lol

[Gamblor]

 ^^^

Plus I think he believes the DM position doesn't exist anymore, or atleast hasn't for the last ten years.

[JaxByDefault]

Cool news.

Keep hoping for that DM, Gamblor. You want one of ours? Ohhhhh... never mind.

[Ajax]

^^^

Plus I think he believes the DM position doesn't exist anymore, or atleast hasn't for the last ten years.

Patrick Vieira.  Le sigh. 

[Gamblor]

Cool news.

Keep hoping for that DM, Gamblor. You want one of ours? Ohhhhh... never mind.

Lol figures you'd pop up to rub that in, and yes I would like one of yours! Would you like some of my Alexis? Mmmm, you know you want some of him....

Think you're going to get one of these at the end ByDefault?

^^^

Plus I think he believes the DM position doesn't exist anymore, or atleast hasn't for the last ten years.

Patrick Vieira.  Le sigh. 

Don't forget Petit... those were the days

[fsquid]

I'm there.

[control]

tickets are on sale now, I got mine on ticketmaster.com, but they are probably available at the box office with less fees.  They have on field seats for $150, and regular seats for $30+ fees or $40+ fees.  It looks like the $40 ones are in the touchdown club sections.  The online site has a space to enter discount codes for jaxsport members, armada season ticket holders and codes from local youth clubs.  I think it is pretty much a bargain for a two quality games ,,, I hope Jax shows up to represent. 

[control]

looking forward to the games, looks like the weather should be ok. 

[copperfiend]

What is the attendance expectation for this game? 10k?

[ProjectMaximus]

The article in the bizjournal stated over 4000 sold.