This year's Trophée des Champions clash to be played in Bangkok
French football supremos confirmed on Thursday that the 2023 Trophée des Champions – a game pitting the Ligue 1 winners against the holders of the Coupe de France – will be played in Thailand.
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The tie will take place on 5 August at the 50,000 seat Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok.
"After the 2014 match in Beijing and two in Shenzhen in 2018 and 2019, we've chosen to return to Asia," said a spokesperson for the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) which organises the top two divisions in France.
The LFP took the Trophée des Champions abroad for the first time in 2009 when champions Bordeaux took on Guingamp at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
Since then it has been played in Tunisia, Morocco, the United States, Austria, Gabon and Israel in 2021 and 2022.
"Asia is a key and priority continent in the international development strategy for French football," the LFP spokesperson added.
Competition
The competition officially started in 1955 under the name Challenge des Champions. Ligue 1 winners Reims thrashed Lille 7-1 at the Vélodrome in Marseille.
The game continued to take place at the beginning of every season but stopped between 1974 and 1984. Two games were contested in 1985 and 1986 before another break.
The event was resuscitated in 1995 as the Trophée des Champions. Coupe de France winners Paris Saint-Germain beat Nantes on penalties in front of 12,000 spectators at the Stade Francis Le Blé in Brest to claim their first title.
PSG claimed their 11th crown in 2022 when, as Ligue 1 champions, they thrashed Nantes 4-0. Brazil star Neymar bagged a brace in the rout.
His side, currently 10 points clear at the top of Ligue 1, remain on course to feature in the 2023 clash which could be the 31-year-old Brazilian's return from the ankle injury sustained during the Ligue 1 clash against Lille on 19 February.
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