Manchester City to face K League All-Stars in Seoul pre-season friendly on August 5, 2026
Manchester City will play the K League All-Stars at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, in a pre-season friendly as part of their preparations for the 2026-27 campaign. The fixture comes during City’s Asian tour under new head coach Enzo Maresca and offers both sides a chance to assess their squads ahead of the new season.
City arrive in South Korea after starting their Asian tour with a pre-season match against Inter Milan in Hong Kong, while the K League All-Stars come off a 1-0 exhibition win over Newcastle United. The contest is being treated primarily as a fitness and evaluation exercise, with Manchester City expected to rotate heavily and the All-Stars selecting a collection of the K League’s standout performers. Several senior City players are still easing back after the FIFA World Cup, increasing the likelihood that younger or fringe players will be given minutes. The All-Stars will again be coached by Kim Pan-gon.
The K League side’s principal offensive threat is Cesinha, the Brazilian who recorded 12 goals and 12 assists in the 2025 K League 1 season, finishing among the league’s top scorers and as a joint-leading assist provider. The preview highlights his creativity, set-piece delivery and ability to unlock defences as the biggest attacking danger for the All-Stars. The selected All-Stars squad also lists Cho Hyeon-woo, Kim Young-gwon, Mota and Bojanic among its notable names.
Phil Foden is expected to act as Manchester City’s creative focal point in Seoul, after registering 12 goal contributions with seven goals and five assists in 33 Premier League appearances during the 2025-26 season. With several senior players still being managed after the World Cup, Foden is identified in the preview as one of City’s key attacking outlets for the friendly. The article states City possess significantly greater squad depth and quality even with several World Cup players unavailable.
Manchester City will be without 18-year-old winger Ryan McAidoo after he sustained a minor shoulder injury in the 1-1 draw with Inter Milan in Hong Kong; head coach Enzo Maresca described the problem as "nothing important" and ruled him out of the Seoul match. Aside from McAidoo’s absence, the club is expected to continue rotating players as part of their fitness-building schedule on the Asia tour. The K League All-Stars are reported to have a fully fit squad available with no major injury concerns ahead of the match.
This will be the first-ever meeting between Manchester City and the K League All-Stars; the Korean select side have previously faced European clubs including Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur, Juventus, Atlético Madrid and Newcastle United. The All-Stars will aim for consecutive victories after beating Newcastle 1-0 in July 2025. The preview’s prediction for the friendly is K League All-Stars 1-3 Manchester City, noting that while the All-Stars have attacking talent capable of testing City’s defence, the Premier League side’s technical and attacking options should decide the result over 90 minutes.
Projected lineups in the preview read: K League All-Stars — Cho Hyeon-woo; Kim Tae-hwan, Kim Young-gwon, Park Jin-seop, Kim Joo-sung; Ki Sung-yueng, Lee Soon-min, Bojanic; Erick Farias, Cesinha, Mota. Manchester City — Gianluigi Donnarumma; Rico Lewis, Abdukodir Khusanov, Joško Gvardiol, Mfuni; Mateo Kovačić, Tijjani Reijnders; Savinho, Phil Foden, Antoine Semenyo; Divin Mubama.
Fans can watch the pre-season friendly live on CITY+ via the official Manchester City website and the Man City app, with broadcast availability in other territories dependent on local rights holders. The match will be played on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in South Korea.
