Western Sydney Wanderers head to Dubai to prepare for Asian Champions League

Australian side preparing for semi-final clash against FC Seoul.

Tomi Juric of Western Sydney Wanderers celebrates scoring a goal during the Asian Champions League quarter-final against Guangzhou Evergrande in China. Zhong Zhi / Getty Images

Agence France-Presse

Western Sydney Wanderers leave for Dubai Sunday for a 10-day training camp ahead of their Asian Champions League semi-final with FC Seoul.

Following their quarter-final win over Chinese defending champions Guangzhou Evergrande, the Wanderers have planned an intensive schedule at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex in Dubai.

The private facility of Sheikh Hamdan, the Crown Prince of Dubai, has been used by Manchester United and is booked for use by a number of UEfa Champions League and international teams in the coming year.

The Sydney-based team, only the second Australian team to reach the last four of the Champions League, will also play East Riffa and Al Jazira in Abu Dhabi.

“This season we are competing on a number of fronts and the opportunity to train at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex offers us conditions we have not yet experienced in a high performance environment used by some of the biggest teams in world football,” Wanderers chief executive John Tsatsimas said.

“We need to acclimate to all the conditions that we may be required to play in whether that be during the hot summer months of the [Australia] A-League or the AFC Champions League.”

The Wanderers return home from their Dubai pre-season on September 10.

Follow us on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE