Epic soccer match coming to South Carolina’s Williams-Brice Stadium. Here are details
Less than a month before South Carolina football will begin its 2024 season inside Williams-Brice Stadium, two of the greatest soccer teams on Earth will borrow the venue to play a friendly.
Manchester United and Liverpool, two of the most storied clubs in the English Premier League (EPL), will play an exhibition at William-Brice Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 3, the school announced Friday. It’s believed to be the first soccer match played inside the near-80,000-seat venue.
It’s common for the top international soccer teams to play friendlies in the United States before their club seasons begin, a way to boost soccer’s — and the specific team’s — popularity in America. But rarely do they square on SEC football fields.
Last year, Manchester United played four friendlies in America, kicking off in New Jersey, San Diego, Houston and Las Vegas. Liverpool, meanwhile, hasn’t traveled to the U.S. since 2019, when it played inside Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park and Notre Dame Stadium.
Based upon social-media following, these are two of the most popular teams in the world.
Manchester United, the New York Yankees of the English Premier League with a record 20 titles, has more followers across Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter) and Tik Tok than any other EPL team (209 million followers). Liverpool, which currently sits atop the Premier League table, is not far behind with over 132 million followers. For reference, the Los Angeles Lakers have 60 million followers across the same platforms.
With the FIFA World Cup coming to North America in 2026 — including eight matches slated for Atlanta — the English Premier League friendlies in America have never been more popular. Last year, according to an article from The Athletic, over 260,000 people attended the American exhibitions. And this summer, Manchester United and Liverpool will be joined in the United States by fellow EPL squads Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City.
It was reported that Manchester City will play an undisclosed opponent at Kenan Stadium, the North Carolina Tar Heels football stadium, in late July. Last year, an exhibition between Chelsea and Wrexham drew over 50,000 (a sellout) to the venue.
While it may not have hosted a soccer match in the past, Williams-Brice Stadium has been the venue for a number of big-time events.
The night before the Joe Morrison-led South Carolina football team whooped Western Carolina at Williams-Brice, over 60,000 packed into the stadium in 1987 to watch a 35-minute prayer service given by Pope John Paul II. Twice in a 27-year stretch, attendance records were set as many, including Johnny Cash, came to watch the Rev. Billy Graham speak. Barack Obama held one of his first presidential campaign rallies at Williams-Brice in 2007.
In 1996, Farm Aid came to Columbia and Willie Nelson, with the help of Hootie and the Blowfish and others, helped raise over $700,000. The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, U2, Guns ‘N Roses, Metallica, The Black Crowes, George Strait, Kenny Chesney and, most recently, Jay-Z and Beyoncé have played concerts inside Williams-Brice Stadium.
That last event caused a bit of a stir. Just 11 days before the Gamecocks’ 2018 season opener, the concert caused so much damage to the field that event promoters footed a $200,000 bill to completely replace the turf just days before South Carolina opened its football season.
It is unlikely that a single soccer match will cause enough damage that the entire field will be replaced. But, in any case, four weeks will separate the game and South Carolina’s 2024 season and home opener vs. Old Dominion (Aug. 31).
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
