Summary Manchester City will join Real Madrid at next year's International Champions Cup in Melbourne.
SYDNEY (AFP) - English Premier League champions Manchester City will join European champions Real Madrid at next year s International Champions Cup in Melbourne, organisers said on Friday.
Manchester City is the second team announced for the three-team tournament to take place at the 100,000-capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground from July 18-24.
The third team for the series has yet to be confirmed, but reports have linked Italian Serie A side Inter Milan.
Owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan has invested over 1 billion pounds($1.5 billion) since acquiring Manchester City in 2008.
Since Mansour s arrival, City have won two Premier League titles, in 2012 and 2014, as well as the 2011 FA Cup and this year s League Cup.
Manchester City also have a stake in Australia s A-League after the club s Abu Dhabi-based owners purchased and re-branded Melbourne Heart as Melbourne City early this year.
"We are looking forward, once again, to being a part of the tournament," Ferran Soriano, chief executive of Manchester City, said in a statement.
"We are particularly excited to be visiting Melbourne, which is home to our sister club, Melbourne City."
With the securing of Real Madrid and Manchester City s huge box-office appeal, organisers are hoping to build on the local appetite for top European clubs after a crowd of 95,000 watched English Premier League Liverpool s 2-0 win over
Australia s Melbourne Victory at the MCG last year.
Ten-time European champions Real Madrid were named FIFA s Club of the 20th Century and are worth an estimated 500 million euros ($618 million).
