Barça’s pre-season schedule

FC Barcelona’s official website yesterday outlined the team’s preparations for next season, providing a timeline for the players’ return and the various friendly matches lined up so far. The full squad will be together as of July 31st, with a mixture of first team players (uninvolved in the World Cup) and rising youth stars working with Guardiola as of July 19th.

Preparations for next season begin 19th July

Preparations for next season will begin on 19th July when Pep Guardiola will hold the first training session of the close season for those members of the squad not involved in the World Cup.

The Barca head coach will get the ball rolling at the Joan Gamper training grounds with the handful of Barca players not currently taking part in the World Cup together with some of the rising stars from the reserves.

Staggered return

A week later they will be joined by those players whose countries did not get past the round of the last 16. The rest of the squad will report for duty from 31st July.

Confirmed matches

The first friendly of the summer will take place on 29th July in Oslo against Valerenga. The team will make the return trip on the same day. So far two matches have been confirmed for the tour of Asia: on 4th August against an all-star eleven from the K-League; and 8th August in Beijing against Guoan.

Super Cup

At the moment FC Barcelona is waiting for the Spanish football authorities to decide the dates of the Spanish Super Cup against Sevilla. In principle, the Spanish league will kick off on the weekend of 28th and 29th August. As soon as all this is confirmed the Club will announce the date of the Joan Gamper Trophy.

International Break

The pre-season preparations will be interrupted in the middle of August to allow for international matches, which are scheduled to take place on 11th August. There will be qualifying matches for EURO 2012 and a friendly encounter between Mexico and Spain has also already been confirmed.