Cosmos To Face La Liga's SD Eibar In Friendly

Photo credit: New York Cosmos

The New York Cosmos will play an exhibition match against SD Eibar on Wednesday, May 25 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, NV.

“We are delighted to accept the invitation to play against SD Eibar,” Cosmos Chief Operating Officer Erik Stover said. “La Liga is one of the world’s most-famous soccer leagues and the quality of teams within it is excellent. This fixture against Eibar will be a good one for us as we come to the end of our NASL Spring Season.”

This match is part of the LFP World Challenge, an initiative, now in its third year, which aims to promote the image of La Liga clubs internationally.

The New York Cosmos have great history in soccer with some of the world’s top players suiting up in green and white, including Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer. More recently, Liga BBVA ambassador Marcos Senna and La Liga country manager (U.S.) Raúl González featured on their roster.

"From a sporting perspective, this tour allows us to continue training after the season has finished,” SD Eibat’s Marketing Directo Gema Baqué said. “It's also important to open new markets and be more international. This is a unique and historic opportunity that we couldn't miss. We wanted to get closer to our American stakeholders, thank them for their support and, for the future, look to build sponsors.”

In 2014, SD Eibar earned promotion to the top flight of Spanish soccer for the first time in club history. The Basque Country club is famous for being one of the smallest teams to achieve promotion to La Liga, playing at Ipurua Municipal Stadium which has a capacity of 6,300 and hosts visiting world soccer stars including Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez. This will be the first time that the 75-year-old club will play in the United States.

Global Futbol Partners are working with LFP World Challenge to manage and promote the U.S. fixtures.