LOOK: A.J. Dillon, Pat O'Donnell attend historic soccer match at Lambeau Field
Lambeau Field for the Green Bay Packers is one of the more historic venues in all of football. For all the history that’s been accomplished at the iconic venue, on Saturday night they added something that’s never been done before. European soccer clubs F.C. Bayern and Manchester City are playing the first soccer game ever played at Lambeau Field. It turns out, current Green Bay running back A.J. Dillon and punter Pat O’Donnell decided to take in the sights on Saturday night and support their favorite professional soccer team, F.C. Bayern.
Check it out.
There appears to be a near-capacity crowd at the game, despite the weather being rainy and stormy this evening. The Packers posted a pretty cool video of fans enjoying the sights and sounds of the first soccer match ever played at Lambeau.
Check that one out.
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland scored the first goal on the night, putting his team up 1-0 just 12 minutes into the match. It’s his first appearance with the English champions. Saturday night’s match was delayed due to lightning. There was an even lengthier lightning delay immediately after Haaland’s goal as storms passed through Green Bay.
The soccer match is an exhibition match between the two teams.
The exhibition match is part of FC Bayern Munich’s preseason Audi Summer Tour. The team also made a stop in Washington, D.C. to play D.C. United on July 20th. Manchester City played a game on July 20th as well, in NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas against Club America. The trip for them is also part of their preseason tour.
The grass appears to be in magnificent shape. Kudos to the team of people that made the field look so perfect at Lambeau. A press release from the Green Bay Packers noted that fans from 19 different countries purchased tickets to the event.
The game is currently being nationally televised on ESPN.
Background information on Lambeau Field
Lambeau Field is the oldest continually operating stadium in the National Football league. Only the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field have longer active home-field tenures in professional sports. Lambeau Field is the fifth-largest stadium in the NFL with standing room (81,441 seats), but it is third in normal capacity. It’s now the largest stadium in the state of Wisconsin, beating out Camp Randall Stadium (80,321 seats) for the Wisconsin Badgers.