Juventus set to inaugurate West Ham's new stadium in August

Italian football giants Juventus will play West Ham United on August 7 in a pre-season friendly at the latter's new stadium -- Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The stadium which was used in the 2012 Olympic Games has a capacity of 60,000. The club's joint-chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold expressed their delight at kicking off life in the arena against Massimiliano Allegri's men.

"It was always our intention to open the new stadium on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with a fixture fitting of the occasion, and the visit of the reigning Italian champions Juventus is most certainly that," the duo said in a joint statement which was uploaded on the club's website on Monday.

"There has been an enormous amount of work done over the past few years to ready the stadium for our first game and we cannot wait to show our fans and the wider football world how incredible it will look.

"This will be a game you'll want to tell your grandkids you were at. Sunday 7 August just can't come soon enough!"

West Ham United head coach Slaven Bilic added: "It will be a privilege to face one of the biggest clubs in the world in our opening game at the new Stadium. Like us, they are a club steeped in tradition, so it is fitting that together we will create history with this match.

West Ham and Juventus have never met previously, either in European competition or in friendly games.

--IANS

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