Queens Park Rangers Football Club is delighted to announce that the First Team squad will travel to Asia this summer for a lucrative pre-season tour. Mark Hughes's side will play two friendly fixtures in Thailand and Malaysia. Speaking exclusively to www.qpr.co.uk, QPR Chairman, Tony Fernandes, expressed his excitement at the news the R's will be travelling to his homeland this summer.
"We are very excited and honored to be heading to Asia for our pre-season tour," he said. "I'm also thrilled to be going to East Malaysia which in many ways is the home of AirAsia. To the best of my knowledge no-one has ever toured in Sabah. I'm thrilled that we have remembered all the people that have helped AirAsia get off the ground by bringing QPR to Sabah."
The tour will commence on Tuesday 10th July, with Bangkok - the capital city of Thailand - being the first destination. The squad will train at the former Suphachalasai National Stadium in central Bangkok, prior to locking horns with a Thai All Star XI at the 60,000 capacity Rajamangala National Stadium on Saturday 14th July.
Thereafter, the R's will jet to Kota Kinabalu, where Hughes's squad will train at the 35,000 capacity Likas Stadium, before playing a Football Association of Sabah Select team at the same venue on Wednesday 17th July. QPR CEO, Philip Beard, added: "Nothing beats watching the team live and by visiting Thailand and Malaysia, we are allowing fans from all three countries to experience just that.
"It will also be a wonderful experience for the Club and our players, many of whom will be visiting Asia for the first time. "We will be working closely with our main sponsors, Air Asia, and our other partners in the region to ensure we can deliver our best ever pre-season tour."
