We continue to look at the significance of each fixture on our 2024 USA Tour by focusing on our stateside meeting with the Premier League champions…

Enzo Maresca’s first taste of coaching Chelsea against a Premier League side will have a very familiar feel to it.

Our new head coach spent two years working at Man City over two separate spells. In the first – 2020/21 – he led their development squad, which included Cole Palmer, to the Premier League 2 title.

Returning a year later, Maresca was appointed as assistant to Pep Guardiola. City duly won the Treble.

Don't miss your chance to make unforgettable memories when Chelsea visit the USA this summer.


Guardiola has said Maresca will be ‘an extraordinary manager’ and praised the way he helped develop so many of City’s youngsters during his time there. Now in the royal blue of Chelsea, the Italian will pit his wits against his former colleague for the first time.

The showpiece meeting in Ohio is an opportunity for the Blues to test themselves against the best England has to offer.

Maresca will have had almost four weeks working with our talented young squad and the performance may provide an early indication of how far along the Blues are in their preparations for the new campaign.


The game on Saturday 3 August will be our first against Man City on foreign soil since that night in Porto.

The memories still burn bright and in truth, the intensity of our rivalry with the Citizens has stepped up a notch since 29 May 2021.

The teams shared two fantastic league games last season - the spoils shared on each occasion - while we narrowly lost the FA Cup semi-final back in April.

This pre-season showdown is bound to be another fascinating watch, and it will set a marker for the opening game of the season, when City visit Stamford Bridge on Sunday 18 August.

Chelsea and Manchester City may be on very familiar terms, but a new flavour will be added to the pan.

For the first time in our many visits to the USA, we will play a game in Ohio. Columbus is the host city and the impressive Ohio Stadium the venue. It has a capacity of over 100,000 and befits a fixture of this magnitude.

So, Maresca’s Chelsea vs Guardiola’s Man City in the fourth biggest stadium in the world, a rivalry renewed and a chance to set the tone for what’s to come: this promises to be something special.

Chelsea's 2024 USA Tour