Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 6y

Cristiano Ronaldo won't play for Juventus in ICC or MLS All-Star Game

Cristiano Ronaldo will not join his Juventus teammates on their tour of the United States this summer and will not play in the MLS All-Star Game or International Champions Cup, the club confirmed to ESPN.

The Portuguese forward was officially presented as a Juve player on Monday, when he also announced that he would begin preseason training on July 30.

Juve face Ronaldo's former club Real Madrid at FedEx Field in Maryland on Aug. 4, less than a week after Ronaldo starts training, but the Serie A champions have confirmed that the 33-year-old will not travel to the U.S.

Instead, Juventus said Ronaldo and the other players who progressed beyond the group stage of the World Cup will train at the club's own training facilities in Italy.

Ronaldo will therefore be joined by Gonzalo Higuain, Paulo Dybala, Juan Cuadrado, Rodrigo Bentancur and Douglas Costa in Turin, with World Cup finalists Mario Mandzukic, Marko Pjaca and Blaise Matuidi the last to link up with the squad prior to the new season, which starts on Aug. 19.

Ronaldo's first outing in a Juve shirt should be in their traditional friendly against their youth team in Villar Perosa -- at the home of president Andrea Agnelli's family -- on Aug. 12.

At his unveiling, Ronaldo stated that he hoped to be available for Juve's first game of the season, the fixtures for which will be announced on July 26.

Juventus will open their ICC play against Bayern Munich in Philadelphia on July 25, then play Benfica in New Jersey on July 28, before providing the opposition for the MLS All-Stars on Aug. 1 and concluding their tour against Real Madrid three days later. ESPN's networks will broadcast all of the games in the U.S.

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