SANDY, Utah (Friday, March 23, 2018) – Rio Tinto Stadium and Real Salt Lake announced on Friday that the they will host Eintracht Frankfurt of the German Bundesliga in an international friendly on Tuesday, July 10. Eintracht Frankfurt will train at Zions Bank Training Center in Herriman, Utah during their stay, marking the first time the facility has been used to host a European club. Tickets are now available now. Click the graphic below to purchase.
“We are excited to give our fans the opportunity to see a top-end German club at Rio Tinto Stadium and to give another club the chance to train at the Zions Bank Training Center – we take a lot of pride in that building and all its amenities,” RSL General Manager
Craig Waibel
said. “It will also be a great experience for our players to face an opponent with that sort of pedigree and we look forward to it.”
For the third consecutive summer, Real Salt Lake faces a European side at the world-class Utah venue after Internazionale Milan from Italy visited in 2016 and English giants Manchester United played in 2017. This will be Eintracht Frankfurt’s first trip to Utah, joining a list of top-flight international clubs to visit the Beehive State to face RSL. That list also includes Real Madrid (Spain) in 2006 (Rice-Eccles Stadium) and Everton (England) in 2007/09. RSL also boasts a long history of hosting regional CONCACAF powers Club América (Mexico) in 2008, Saprissa (Costa Rica) in 2011, Chivas de Guadalajara (Mexico) in 2008, as well as South American clubs Boca Juniors (Argentina) in 2007 and Universidad Católica (Chile) in 2005, among others.
Eintracht Frankfurt is currently fourth in the Bundesliga standings at 13-8-6, which would qualify them to the UEFA Champions League Group Stage. The club’s roster includes American international Timothy Chandler, who played with Real Salt Lake captain Kyle Beckerman and goalkeeper Nick Rimando in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Eintracht Frankfurt’s travel roster for the match at Rio Tinto Stadium will be announced at a later date.
Nicknamed “Die Adler” (The Eagles), Eintracht Frankfurt won the German championship once, in 1959, and has won the German Cup four times (1974, 1975, 1981, 1988). “The Eagles” (Die Adler won the UEFA Europa League in 1979-80, when it was called the UEFA Cup.
REAL SALT LAKE’S INTERNATIONAL HISTORY:
Real Salt Lake famously hosted its first European visitor back in August, 2006, when world power Real Madrid visited the Beehive State, RSL falling 0-2 at Rice-Eccles Stadium on the University of Utah campus on August 12, 2006, not coincidentally the date of Rio Tinto Stadium’s groundbreaking. The following Summer, RSL downed Everton (ENG), 2-0, with the Liverpool-based side returning to Utah for the 2009 MLS All-Star Game in Sandy, the Toffees winning via penalty kick shootout, 4-3, to decide a 1-1 draw at the conclusion of 90 minutes.
RSL’s history against international clubs at Rio Tinto Stadium is dominated by CONCACAF Champions League play with 22 of 24 all-time games of this type part of CCL competition; however, numerous friendlies have existed against Mexican, Argentine, Jamaican, Chilean and English teams, mostly at Rice-Eccles Stadium during the 13-year old club’s early years. The records:
With last Summer’s 1-2 loss at home to England’s Manchester United, RSL’s all-time record is now 18-11-10 (W-L-T) all-time in international contests, with a +13 goal differential (56 goals for / 43 goals against) … In meaningful int’l competition, RSL is 11-5-6 (34 GF / 22 GA) …
In the Rio Tinto Stadium era, RSL is 13-8-8 vs. visiting international squads (does NOT include league matches against visiting Canadian teams, against whom RSL is now 14-2-3 (36/14 goal +/-); however, the record DOES include CCL series v. Columbus and Toronto) …
The complete historical rundown, with friendlies against international teams in RED and CCL games in blue (European teams in BOLD):
Date Opponent Score / Result
June 8, 2005 Universidad Catolica (CHL) 3-2 W @ Rice-Eccles Stadium
August 24, 2005 Harbour View F.C. (JAM) 1-1 T
July 19, 2006 Monarcas Morelia (MEX) 1-3 L
August 12, 2006 Real Madrid (SPN) 0-2 L
April 18, 2007 Fiji National Team 3-0 W
June 7, 2007 Chinese National Team 1-0 W
July 21, 2007 Everton (ENG) 2-0 W
July 24, 2007 Boca Juniors (ARG) 1-1 T
July 9, 2008 Santos Laguna (MEX) 1-4 L
July 23, 2008 Dep. Saprissa (CRC) 1-2 L
Sept. 3, 2008 UANL Tigres (MEX) 1-0 W
July 11, 2009 C.F. América (MEX) 1-0 W @ Rio Tinto Stadium
July 29, 2009 Everton (ENG) v MLS All-Stars 1-1 T (EVE wins 4-3 in shootout)
Oct. 7, 2009 CD Guadalajara (MEX) 1-1 T
June 19, 2010 Puntarenas F.C. (CRC) 2-0 W
August 18, 2010 Árabe Unido (PAN) 2-1 W
August 25, 2010 @ Cruz Azul (MEX) 4-5 L
Sept. 15, 2010 Toronto FC (CAN) 4-1 W
Sept. 22, 2010 @ Arabe Unido (PAN) 3-2 W
Sept. 28, 2010 @ Toronto FC (CAN) 1-1 T
Oct. 19, 2010 Cruz Azul (MEX) 3-1 W
Feb. 22, 2011 @ Columbus (USA) 0-0 T
March 1, 2011 Columbus Crew (USA) 4-1 W
March 15, 2011 Dep. Saprissa (CRC) 2-0 W
April 5, 2011 @ Dep. Saprissa (CRC) 1-2 L*
April 20, 2011 @ Monterrey (MEX) 2-2 T
April 27, 2011 Monterrey (MEX) 0-1 L
July 31, 2012 @ Herediano (CRC) 0-1 L
August 21, 2012 Tauro FC (PAN) 2-0 W
Sept. 18, 2012 @ Tauro FC (PAN) 1-0 W
Oct. 23, 2012 Herediano (CRC) 0-0 T
August 12, 2014 Xolos de Tijuana (MEX) 1-1 T
August 4, 2015 @ Municipal (GUA) 1-0 W
Sept. 15, 2015 @ Santa Tecla (SLV) 0-0 T
Sept. 24, 2015 Santa Tecla (SLV) 2-1 W
Oct. 20, 2015 Municipal (GUA) 1-0 W
Feb. 24, 2016 @ UANL Tigres (MEX) 0-2 L
March 2, 2016 UANL Tigres (MEX) 1-1 T
July 19, 2016 Internazionale Milano (ITA) 1-2 L
July 17, 2017 Manchester United FC (ENG) 1-2 L
ABOUT REAL SALT LAKE:
Real Salt Lake recently kicked off its 14th Major League Soccer season in 2018, the Utah side buoyed by a passionate fan base boasting nearly 15,000 season ticket holders at its Rio Tinto Stadium home in Sandy, where the club has enjoyed a most pronounced home-field advantage in Major League Soccer, posting an impressive 107-26-42 mark in the building since its opening in October, 2008.
In search of hardware, RSL seeks to reach the MLS Cup Playoffs for the ninth time in 11 years this season, a remarkable run among Major League Soccer’s elite that includes an MLS Cup 2009 title, the state of Utah’s only major professional championship in the last 40 years. Recent campaigns have seen RSL advance to another MLS Cup title game, losing in 2013 via a penalty-kick shootout in Kansas City, where the 2015 squad also dropped a Semifinal match in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. RSL lost an Open Cup Final at home in 2013, the one-goal loss to D.C. United a bitter reminder of the Club’s groundbreaking (and ultimately heartbreaking) run to the CONCACAF Champions League Final in 2011, when the club became the first-ever – and still only – U.S. side to progress within one goal of advancing to the FIFA Club World Cup.
Real Salt Lake's $76-million regional training campus in Herriman, Utah, approximately 20 minutes southwest of Rio Tinto Stadium, will serve as the daily training home for both of the club's male professional teams – RSL (MLS) and Real Monarchs (USL) – while centralizing the club's U-18, U-16 and future U-14 development academy youth selections. The Herriman provides adjacencies for an on-site charter school opened in Fall, 2017, with STEM disciplines (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math) for nearly 300 boys and girls.
