By: Anjay Kottapalli

On July 22 in Philidelphia, many people were dressed in blue to support Chelsea FC,when European teams clashed with English soccer team Brighton and Hove Albion FC at the Premier League Summer Series in the US.

The Premier League Summer Series includes 9 matches across the East Coast of the US. Six teams are participating including Chelsea FC, Carabao cup, and Newcastle United. The first Summer Series will take place in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Atlanta,and Orlando. “Before each of the summer series games is a fan fest. The fan fest has loads of activities from playing in the Nike Skills Arena to spinning a wheel to win a Premier League jersey. The fan fest also has lots of former and current players hanging out with the fans and signing autographs. By having this big fan fest, the Premier League hopes to attract more fans to English soccer by showing them the great stuff that happens at a game.” (SportsIllustratedKids)

Soccer’s popularity in the US has increased due to things like the World Cup along with players like Messi coming to the US. There are also the soccer champions with clubs coming to the US like Manchester United, Arsenal, Ac Milan, Juventus, Barcelona, and Real Madrid.

Barcelona and Real Madrid have a rivalry because they used to have players like Ronaldo and Messi. Barcelona and Real Madrid will play in Arlington, Texas. With more and more iconic and famous European teams coming to America it is likely that interest in soccer in the US continues to surge.