AC Milan’s Luca Antonelli (31) defends against FC Barcelona’s Malcom Silva (26) in the second half during an International Champions Cup game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Saturday, Aug. 4, 2018. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
The highly anticipated matchup of global soccer superpowers at Levi’s Stadium on Saturday night has been canceled.
Less than 10 hours before the match was set to begin, FC Barcelona announced that the match against Juventus as part of the Soccer Champions Tour has been canceled after a “significant part” of their team has the stomach flu.
FC Barcelona hereby informs that the game against Juventus FC, scheduled for today, July 22 at 7:30 PM at Levi’s Stadium, as part of the Soccer Champions Tour, has been canceled. A significant part of the blaugrana squad has a viral gastroenteritis. pic.twitter.com/vnpmhFFucX — FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 22, 2023
The announcement came via Barcelona’s social media accounts at 10:09 a.m. Saturday morning. Other videos on social media show that Barcelona was in Los Angeles on Friday, which included an evening training session at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
More than an hour later, Juventus announced that the Italian side will host a training session at 6:30 p.m. instead of the match, but that, too, has been canceled, a 49ers spokesperson told this news organization. Thus, there will be no event for fans at Levi’s Stadium at all on Saturday night, and the 49ers are discouraging fans from coming to the Santa Clara venue.
Around 2.5 hours after the initial announcement from Barcelona, Levi’s Stadium said that refunds for tickets and parking passes will be sent to fans “within 30 days” if they purchased their tickets through the 49ers’ official channels or through Ticketmaster. Fans who purchased tickets through secondary markets will need to work through those places for their refunds.
Customers who purchased through other sources should go through that source to obtain a refund, if applicable. Ticket and parking refunds will not be provided at the stadium itself. There are no additional changes to the Soccer Champions Tour schedule.
— Levi’s® Stadium (@LevisStadium) July 22, 2023
It’s the first match that both squads are set to play in the United States in the coming weeks. Barcelona are set to face off with their Spanish archrivals Real Madrid at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Saturday, July 29.
Juventus will then face Real Madrid in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday, August 2. They will also play fellow Italian side AC Milan in Carson, California on Thursday, July 27.
Barcelona has previously played at Levi’s Stadium in friendlies twice before, facing Manchester United in 2015 and AC Milan in 2018.
For Bay Area soccer residents, it’s a damper on what was expected to be the final major match of a summer of high-level soccer events in Santa Clara. Levi’s Stadium has hosted two prior matches this summer — the Earthquakes beating LAFC on May 6 and Mexico’s 1-0 loss to Qatar in the CONCACAF Gold Cup earlier this month — and was set to use the Barcelona-Juventus match as a major test event for the 2026 Men’s World Cup.
There was also the Quakes’ annual match at Stanford Stadium against the LA Galaxy and the U.S. women’s national team playing their lone send-off match at San Jose’s PayPal Park ahead of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Levi’s Stadium was only set to host a few major non-49er events in the month of July, and now all three — Gold Cup match, Saturday’s friendly and next weekend’s Taylor Swift concerts — have had incidents steal headlines. Earlier this month, a fan was arrested for attempted murder in connection with a stabbing that took place during the Mexico-Qatar Gold Cup match. And ahead of next weekend’s Swift concerts, Levi’s Stadium officials have come under fire from “Swifties” and others for an attempt to ban friendship bracelets for the two concert days.
