Notre Dame played a traditional American football game abroad last summer, and now the venerable university will host an international soccer match this summer.
Officials from the University of Notre Dame as well as on behalf of the soccer franchises announced Monday inside Notre Dame Stadium that Chelsea F.C., of the English Premier League, will face Celtic F.C., of the Scottish Premiership, July 27 inside Notre Dame Stadium.
It marks the second time that Notre Dame has been selected as a host-site for the international soccer exhibitions; the school hosted Liverpool against Dortmund in 2019.
"I'm thrilled this is going to be one of the first great events in my tenure here," said Notre Dame Athletics Director Pete Bevacqua, who has been aboard with ND since last summer and has transitioned into the role as replacement to the retiring Jack Swarbrick.
Bevacqua later told reporters that Notre Dame has targeted a crowd of more than 70,000 for the late-July match, a figure that would dwarf attendance from the match held inside the same venue five years ago.
Bevacqua leaned on his experiences at NBC, where he was chairman of sports, and noted the global rise in the popularity of soccer.
"We think we’ll get hopefully at least 70,000 people," he said. "Hopefully we can do more than 70,000 but we’ll drum up excitement, hopefully have a beautiful day in July and pack the stadium. That’s our intent, that’s our hope and our expectation.
"I think Notre Dame and the South Bend community are used to hosting big-time sporting events. So, we have such a great relationship with the city and city leaders, I think South Bend will be ready. I think it’s happening at a great time of year, to have it in the summer obviously well before football season starts, I think it’s just going to be a great economic boon for the city of South Bend and a great way to further showcase how South Bend can handle big events and certainly what we can do here on campus."
Bevacqua similarly cited the rich tradition of both visiting clubs; Celtic was founded in 1887; Chelsea turns 120 years old next season.
"I think Roy (Aitken, Celtic F.C.) said it so well, there’s an expectation when you talk about Chelsea Football Club, Celtic Football Club, that history of success, history of championships; nothing less than championships is expected and that’s what we have here at Notre Dame. For all of our sports. Certainly, every time we go into that stadium and play another school on that football field, we want to win. That’s the Notre Dame Way. That’s the expectation and that’s what we expect and I know that’s what these two great football clubs expect as well.
"I think it’s a great coming together of these winning cultures."
The public on-sale date for the match is set for March 27 at 10 a.m. ET; Ticketmaster is handling the ticket sales.