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Stream, TV Channel and Kickoff Time

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Emerson Palmieri of Chelsea

Manchester City kicks off the second match of its preseason Asia tour on Wednesday against a K League All-Stars squad in Seoul, South Korea, giving fans around the world a chance to watch new manager Enzo Maresca continue shaping his squad ahead of the 2026-27 Premier League campaign.

The match is being played at Seoul World Cup Stadium, a venue that hosted matches during the 2002 World Cup, with kickoff set for noon local UK time, which translates to 7 a.m. Eastern time in the United States, 8 p.m. in South Korea, 4:30 p.m. in India and 9:30 p.m. in Australia.

How to Watch

The match will not air on traditional television in the United Kingdom or in most markets around the world. Instead, Manchester City is streaming the game live through CITY+, the club’s own in-house subscription streaming service, available on the club’s official website and mobile app. The service costs £34.99 annually or £9.99 per month on its own, or fans can access it as part of a broader Premium Membership package priced at £65 per year, which bundles CITY+ with other club membership benefits.

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For fans in South Korea specifically, the CITY+ stream will not be available, since the match is being blacked out in the host country, likely to preserve the value of any local broadcast rights tied to the K League All-Stars’ side. Local South Korean broadcasters may carry separate coverage of the match in that market, though no single confirmed domestic broadcaster had been widely reported ahead of kickoff. Fans without a CITY+ subscription elsewhere can still follow the match through live audio commentary available via the Matchday Centre on Manchester City’s official website and app, along with in-game highlights and text updates.

Manchester City has also confirmed that extended highlights and a full-match replay will be made available on CITY+ shortly after the final whistle for subscribers who are unable to watch the match live given the early morning kickoff time in markets such as the United States.

Part of a Broader Asia Tour

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Wednesday’s match against the K League All-Stars is the second of three fixtures on Manchester City’s preseason tour of Asia. The club opened its tour with a match against Inter Milan in Hong Kong, which finished 1-1 after Divin Mubama opened the scoring for City before Benjamin Pavard equalized for the Italian side, with Inter ultimately winning the ensuing penalty shootout. City will close out its Asia tour on Sunday, Aug. 9, with a match against Atletico Madrid, also kicking off at noon UK time and also streamed live through CITY+.

This marks City’s first meeting with a K League All-Stars selection since previously playing in South Korea as recently as 2023, a trip the club has described as reflecting the strong fan interest in both Manchester City and the broader European game within the country. The K League All-Stars format brings together a squad of standout players drawn from across South Korea’s top-flight domestic league to face a single high-profile international opponent, a fixture that has become an annual preseason tradition for major European clubs touring the region.

A Tricky Opponent

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Despite representing an exhibition-style selection rather than a traditional club side, the K League All-Stars have built a reputation in recent years for competing closely with elite European opposition. The squad defeated Newcastle United in a 2025 exhibition match and pushed Tottenham Hotspur to a narrow 4-3 defeat in a 2024 meeting, results that suggest Wednesday’s fixture could prove more competitive than a typical preseason friendly against a similarly assembled all-star side.

A New Era Under Maresca

Wednesday’s match comes at a significant moment for Manchester City, marking the beginning of the club’s first full season since the departure of longtime manager Pep Guardiola. New head coach Enzo Maresca is using the preseason tour to evaluate his squad and begin implementing his own tactical approach ahead of City’s bid to reclaim the Premier League title from Arsenal.

Several key first-team players remain unavailable for the match following their participation at the FIFA World Cup earlier this summer, including Erling Haaland, Rodri, Nico O’Reilly, Elliot Anderson and Jérémy Doku. Rodri in particular is expected to be sidelined for an extended period after the club confirmed he underwent minor back surgery, a development that comes amid reported interest from Real Madrid in the Spanish midfielder. Meanwhile, Rúben Dias, Matheus Nunes and Omar Marmoush have rejoined the touring squad in South Korea after being unavailable for City’s opening match against Inter Milan, and are expected to feature for at least a portion of Wednesday’s match.

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According to team news reported ahead of kickoff, City’s starting lineup for the match against the K League All-Stars was expected to include Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal behind a backline of Khusanov, Dias as captain, Gvardiol and Ait-Nouri, with Lewis, Kovacic and Reijnders anchoring midfield, and Foden, Mubama and Semenyo leading the attacking line.

With City set to face Atletico Madrid in its final Asia tour match on Sunday before returning to Europe to complete preseason preparations, Wednesday’s match against the K League All-Stars represents an important step in Maresca’s effort to build cohesion within his squad ahead of a Premier League campaign that will see City looking to reclaim the title after Arsenal’s triumph the previous season. Fans looking to follow the match in real time are encouraged to confirm their regional CITY+ availability ahead of kickoff, given the blackout restrictions in place for South Korean viewers and the early morning start time facing audiences across North and South America.

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Citigroup chief ‘worried’ by 48% rate

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Citigroup chief 'worried' by 48% rate

Dame Jane Fraser, the chief executive of Citigroup, has said she is “worried” about the UK’s tax rate on banks, which she put at about 48 per cent in London against 27 per cent in New York, warning that further rises could jeopardise investment.

Speaking on a visit to London, Fraser said the UK rate was higher than in New York, Dublin, Frankfurt and Paris. “Money votes with its feet,” she said.

Fraser, who runs the third-largest US bank, put Dublin’s rate at around 28 to 29 per cent.

“It makes it a tougher decision,” she said. “It’s already one of the most expensive centres in the world. Your clients have a lot of choices where things get booked. We have to make choices to where things get booked. If the taxes go up even higher, then that makes it an easier decision not to book it in London.”

Asked whether she was concerned about a new bank tax under Andy Burnham’s government, Fraser said: “Where I get concerned about it is London is such an important centre, a financial centre around the world. The world needs London to work well and to continue to prosper and innovate.

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“There aren’t great alternatives. We need stronger alternatives to New York around the world because you need the diversification. But money votes with its feet.”

Fraser named France, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan as alternative places for Citi to invest.

“The UK is important. It’s got talent, it’s got infrastructure, it’s got pretty sensible regulatory capabilities and the like,” she said. “But that difference, and I hate to be Scottish, it gets overcome pretty quickly. I am quite worried about it.

“I’m not sitting there going: ‘Okay, this is a catastrophe.’ But we care about the UK. This is a very important centre for Citi. I don’t want to see London diminished.”

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Citi employs 14,000 people in the UK and is opening new offices at Canary Wharf in London. Fraser took over as chief executive in March 2021, and shares in the bank have almost doubled since.

Her comments follow a similar warning from Jamie Dimon, the JP Morgan chief executive, who has criticised the bank levy and said the tax has cost his shareholders $5 billion. Dimon said in May that JP Morgan would “reconsider” its planned Canary Wharf skyscraper if the bank’s UK tax bill climbed “too much”. CS Venkatakrishnan, the Barclays chief executive, has also urged ministers to resist further bank tax rises.

Banks in the UK pay a surcharge on profits in addition to corporation tax, alongside a levy on balance sheets. UK Finance, the industry body, put the total tax rate for a model corporate and investment bank in London at 46.4 per cent in its 2025 study, against 27.9 per cent in New York, 28.9 per cent in Dublin and 38.9 per cent in Frankfurt.

Fraser also said the UK was seen as “baffling” in the US. “I think some of the political changes that have happened in the UK are strange to the States, as to why there’s been so much change and why that’s happened. Then I think they see the UK as a bit diminished from what it used to be. But there is a desire and want for the UK to succeed.”

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Asked whether she thought the UK was diminished, Fraser said: “Not so much diminished, it’s a little different. I think that it’s not as important in the world as it used to be. Some of that’s probably been our own doing. But it’s also the world’s changed a lot. It’s a more muscular world, it’s a more scaled world. I think the UK has a chance to prosper a lot. But it’s got some work to do.”

Fraser, 59, was born in Scotland and studied economics at the University of Cambridge before taking an MBA at Harvard. She joined Citi in 2004 after a decade at the consultancy McKinsey and has lived in the US for almost 20 years.


Amy Ingham

Amy Ingham

Amy Ingham is a reporter at Business Matters, covering UK business news with a focus on breaking news, business policy, late payments and insolvency. She joined the magazine in 2026 after completing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at Harlow College’s journalism school. Her recent reporting includes British Steel’s nationalisation and its impact on SME suppliers, the decline in late payments by large firms, and Insolvency Service director disqualifications. Reach her at aingham@cbmeg.co.uk.

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Sterlite Tech shares gain 4% on Rs 1,760 crore international order win

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Sterlite Tech shares gain 4% on Rs 1,760 crore international order win
Shares of optical and digital solutions provider Sterlite Technologies climbed over 4% to trade at Rs 662 on Thursday after the company secured a major international order worth approximately Rs 1,760 crore.

In a regulatory filing on August 5, the Pune-headquartered technology firm announced that it entered into a multi-year supply agreement with a leading international telecom infrastructure company for high-density optical fiber cables. The client’s specific identity was not disclosed in the filing, as is common with such commercial disclosures.

Details of the order win

The long-term contract is valued at roughly Rs 1,760 crore ($210 million) and will be executed over a three-calendar-year period spanning CY27 to CY29. Sterlite Technologies confirmed in its stock exchange disclosure that neither its promoter group nor any related entities have any financial or strategic interest in the client awarding the contract.

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The deal comes as a significant boost to the company’s global order book, strengthening its presence across key international markets. As telecom operators and hyperscalers worldwide accelerate network rollouts, demand for advanced high-density fibre connectivity solutions is accelerating. The company noted that supplies under this agreement will directly support large-scale digital infrastructure deployments overseas during the three-year execution window.

Market performance and valuation context

The latest surge in the stock price extends a remarkable turnaround for the company on the exchanges. Over the past year, Sterlite Tech has witnessed a multi-fold rally from its 52-week low of Rs 84.65, with Thursday’s gains pushing the scrip close to its 52-week peak of Rs 684.45.


The rally has taken place even as the share remains under the Additional Surveillance Measure (ASM) Long Term Stage 4 framework on the exchanges. Exchange data also indicates that the company’s price-to-earnings (PE) ratio has stayed above 50 across the previous four trailing quarters, reflecting strong market expectations around its future earnings trajectory.

Expanding global digital footprint

Sterlite Technologies operates as an integrated optical and digital connectivity solutions developer, managing operations from glass preforms down to fiber deployment. The company runs manufacturing facilities across India, the United States, Italy, and China, serving telecom operators, internet service providers, and cloud data center networks in more than 100 countries.Industry analysts point out that large long-term contracts from international infrastructure developers are crucial for providing multi-year revenue visibility to optical fiber manufacturers. With global investments pouring into Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) expansion, 5G network densification, and AI-driven data center builds, major optical technology vendors like Sterlite Tech are positioned to capture growing demand across overseas telecom hubs.

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Also read: Explained: What is CAS and what do new stock market timings mean for BSE, NSE traders?

The company’s recent strategic focus has centred on high-capacity ribbon cables, ultra-slim optical fibres, and specialised interconnect tools tailored for rapid deployment. Management has consistently highlighted that long-term supply agreements with global leaders help de-risk capacity planning while ensuring sustained utilisation across its primary manufacturing assets.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

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SoundHound AI, Inc. (SOUN) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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OneWater Marine Inc. (ONEW) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript