Through an official statement released on Wednesday evening, FC Barcelona made a bombshell announcement concerning its upcoming preseason tour of Asia.

“FC Barcelona announces that it has been forced to suspend its participation in the match scheduled for next Sunday in Japan due to a serious breach of contract by the promoter,” Barca revealed.

“However, the Club will consider rescheduling the part of the summer tour in South Korea, where two matches are scheduled against FC Seoul FC (July 31) and Daegu FC (August 4), provided that certain conditions are met by the promoter. If these are met, the Club will travel to South Korea in the coming days. FC Barcelona regrets this incident and the impact on the large community of Barca fans in Japan,” it added.

While some corners might believe that Barca might be worse off by playing one friendly less after almost two months off since sealing a domestic treble back in May, head coach Hansi Flick doesn’t share that belief according to SPORT.

The Catalan newspaper’s anonymous sources say that the German was the one who “received the news with the greatest joy” and believes that Barca can prepare for the upcoming 2025/2026 season with “greater order and control” by not heading to Japan.

Fresh off of signing Marcus Rashford on a season-long loan, Barca will continue its preparations at the Joan Gamper CT and await further news on whether the Asian tour really will take place.

This means that a training session there is planned for Thursday morning, when at 11:00AM Barca was expected to already fly to Kobe and take on the local team Vissel Kobe which club legend Andres Iniesta famously played for after calling time on his European career.

As has been explained, though, that first friendly of three that have been planned will now not take place thanks to a promoter dispute.

FC Barcelona’s preseason campaign has been disrupted

Though Flick appears delighted with not having to head to the Far East straight away, FC Barcelona’s preseason campaign has been disrupted by this development and the fact that the Joan Gamper Trophy cannot be hosted at the Spotify Camp Nou despite Barca claiming that would be the case.