What happened to the friendly against Kobe? D-Drive reveals who failed FC Barcelona

The company in charge of organizing the already suspended friendly match between FC Barcelona and Vissel Kobe, D-DRIVE, which was scheduled to take place on July 27, has issued a statement to explain why the match between Catalans and Japanese could not finally take place. A commitment that, according to the Blaugrana team, was not carried out due to a "serious contractual breach".

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The company D-DRIVE, led by its general manager, Seul Ham, promoter of the Asian tour of FC Barcelona, first wanted to clarify that the friendly match "was originally proposed by the Yasuda Group, main sponsor of Real Sociedad, and was to be co-organized locally in Japan."

Yasuda's non-payment, reason for the contractual breach with FC Barcelona

It is there where the representative of D-DRIVE has tried to explain why they ended up incurring in a contractual breach with Barcelona: "D-Drive was scheduled to receive the full payment for the match today; however, the funds have not finally arrived," she began by saying.

From that, the spokeswoman of D-DRIVE has pointed to the aforementioned Yasuda Group as largely responsible for this contractual breach with the culé team, which has generated great uncertainty around the general development of the tour:

"Instead, the Yasuda Group has repeatedly provided invalid and falsified documents, deceiving us by falsely claiming that the payment had already been transferred to Korea. We have obtained an audio recording of an employee of the Yasuda Group stating that their CEO ultimately did not send the money, which clearly confirms intentional fraud," commented Ham.

Barça, backed by D-DRIVE: the cancellation was the right decision

In her defense, the CEO of D-DRIVE acknowledged the correctness of the decision taken by the Catalan team in this case: "As a result of this fraudulent conduct, the public image of Rakuten has suffered significant damage. In light of these facts, FC Barcelona has made the correct and responsible decision to cancel the match in Japan."

Likewise, Seul Ham remarked that the company she currently represents will not stand idly by in the face of this breach: "We will take legal action against the responsible Japanese entities to claim damages."

D-DRIVE guarantees that the matches in Korea with Barcelona are still on

As a positive note, the general manager of D-DRIVE has emphasized that the commitments agreed to be held in South Korea against FC Seoul (07/31) and Daegu (08/04) are not in question:

"Unlike Japan, in Korea, the promoter has fully prepared the matches and has covered all related costs. As of today, only flight expenses are pending. To our fans in Korea: please rest assured. D-Drive remains fully committed to making the rest of the tour a success. We will do everything possible to offer unforgettable matches. Thank you, Seul Ham," concludes the statement.

The Asian tour of the Blaugrana club is still alive, despite the setback in Japan

In short, the company D-DRIVE has directly blamed the Yasuda Group for the fact that the match between FC Barcelona and Vissel Kobe —which marked the kickoff to the 2025/26 culé preseason tour— has not been carried out. However, it has called for calm regarding the dispute of the other matches against FC Seoul (07/31) and Daegu (08/04), which, pending the resolution of minor details, should be carried out without any inconvenience.