Although the pre-season tour has become an opportunity for many clubs to pull off marketing coups and try to win over new fans from the four corners of the globe, it is first and foremost a chance to gauge the results of the physical and tactical work carried out over the summer.
It is also an opportunity for more or less modest clubs to come up against others with a better reputation or a higher level. So every year brings its share of surprises for fans, both in terms of the fixtures on offer and the results achieved.
And while the results may be honourable, they can also create indelible memories. This article now lists 11 of the strangest pre-season friendlies in football history.
11 Strangest Pre-Season Friendlies in Football History | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Rank | Game | Result | Year |
1 | Real Madrid – Plymouth Argyle | 1-0 | 2006 |
2 | Heaton Stannington – Gabon Olympic | 0-4 | 2012 |
3 | Club Brugge – Otelul Galati | 2-1 | 2013 |
4 | FC United of Manchester – SL Benfica | 0-1 | 2015 |
5 | Hibernian – Barcelona | 0-6 | 2008 |
6 | Shrewsbury Town – Galatasaray | 0-3 | 2013 |
7 | Juventus – Notts County | 1-1 | 2011 |
8 | Fluminense U23 – Exeter City | 0-0 | 2014 |
9 | BG Pathum United – Borussia Dortmund | 4-0 | 2024 |
10 | Bournemouth – Real Madrid | 0-6 | 2013 |
11 | Walsall – Ajax Amsterdam | 2-0 | 2018 |
12 Walsall vs Ajax Amsterdam
Year: 2019
Depending on how you spin it, Walsall’s victory over Ajax Amsterdam could be seen as the starting point for the Dutch side’s fantastic run of form in the 2018/19 season. Back in July 2018, few would have predicted that Erik ten Hag’s men would be contesting a Champions League semi-final just a few months later – and this after having knocked out Real Madrid.
Andy Cook’s brace at the Poundland Bescot Stadium that day may well have had something to do with it. However, the Saddlers’ fans would surely prefer to have lost that day and managed to stay in League One at the end of the season. But that’s another story.
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10 Bournemouth vs Real Madrid
Year: 2013
A friendly between Bournemouth and Real Madrid would certainly seem a lot less strange in 2024 than it did in 2013. Seeing players of the calibre of Cristiano Ronaldo, Angel Di Maria and Casemiro take to the pitch at the Vitality Stadium was, at the time, anything but normal.
The Cherries were about to embark on their first ever Championship season, while Madrid would conclude their season with success in the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, defeating Atletico Madrid in one of the most memorable finals in the competition’s history. It was a difference in dimension that was reflected in the scoreline of the match between the English and Spanish sides: 0-6!
9 BG Pathum United vs Borussia Dortmund
Year: 2024
Nuri Sahin will long remember his first match on the Borussia Dortmund bench. Travelling to Thailand to continue their preparations, the European runners-up were up against BG Pathum United, a local first division side. Despite the Swartz-Gelben team’s considerable turn-over, the match was, on paper, a lopsided affair, but it turned out to the advantage of the side that finished fourth in the Thai Premier League.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Germans conceded not one or two goals, but four, without scoring a single one. It was an insignificant defeat, but one that will at least have brought joy and pride to the Thai club’s supporters, who can take pride in having knocked out the 2023/24 Champions League finalists.
8 Fluminense U23 vs Exeter City
Year: 2014
On the 21st of July 1914, the newly-formed Brazilian national team played the first match in its history against England’s Exeter City, who were then in the middle of their South American tour. The match was played at Estadio das Laranjeiras, home of Fluminense, and ended in a 2-0 victory for the home side over their European opponents.
A century later, to celebrate this historic turning point, the Brazilian club invited its British counterpart to return to the scene of this real event to play a match against its U23 team. The match ended 0-0, and over 600 fans were also invited.
7 Juventus vs Notts County
Year: 2011
It’s a story that is just as familiar to those who follow the history of football as it is to the general public. In 1903, when Juventus were playing unsuccessfully in a pink shirt, John Savage, an English player with La Vecchia Signora who had played for Notts County, the oldest professional club in the world, a few years earlier, suggested that his team-mates order new kit.
Having retained contacts in England, the striker ordered shirts in the black and white colours of his former club for the Italian team. A colour code that was quickly adopted by his team-mates and the Turin management, who never changed it again. So in 2011, when Juventus inaugurated its brand new stadium, the club invited Notts County to come and play a friendly match as a reminder of their close relationship. A beautiful story.
6 Shrewsbury Town vs Galatasaray
Year: 2013
When Turkey’s most successful club, Galatasaray, also a benchmark in European football, travelled to Greenhouse Meadow to take on Shrewsbury Town, it was bound to be an event not to be missed. On a visit to England to compete in the Emirates Cup alongside Arsenal, FC Porto and Napoli, the Cimbom – Galatasaray’s nickname – made a stopover in Shropshire, where they won 3-0.
It was a memorable match in which Didier Drogba, Wesley Sneijder (scorer of the third goal of the game) and Burak Yilmaz all took to the pitch at the modest League One home and showed off their talents.
5 Hibernian vs Barcelona
Year: 2008
It was a match that marked the start of the Pep Guardiola era at Barcelona. In July 2008, the Blaugranas travelled to Murrayfield to take on Hibernian in a gala encounter. It was an exhibition match that quickly took on the air of an execution after the Catalans scored four goals in the space of half an hour.
It was a real demonstration from the players of the current Manchester City coach, who was about to guide his team to an historic six-peat and one of the finest campaigns by a team in the history of football. And while for many the result may be the most important factor, Guardiola’s Barça were determined to win it in style. It is certainly not for nothing that this team of the 2008/09 season is considered one of the best of all time.
4 FC United of Manchester vs SL Benfica
Year: 2015
Similar to AFC Wimbledon, FC United of Manchester is a club set up by former Manchester United fans who disagreed with the Glazer family’s acquisition of the Red Devils. Founded in 2005, the club initially played at Bury FC’s Gigg Lane Stadium.
After years of discussions, FCUM finally obtained permission to build its own stadium, Broadhurst Park, which was completed in 2015. The home side celebrated the occasion with a friendly against Portuguese giants SL Benfica, winning 1-0 on the day. It was an insignificant defeat for a match that guaranteed fans of the modest Mancunian club memories for life.
3 Club Brugge vs Otelul Galati
Year: 2013
To prepare for the 2013/14 season, Club Brugge, Belgium’s second most successful club (19 titles), invited their Romanian counterparts Otelul Galati to play a friendly at Stainton Park, home of non-league Radcliffe Borough on the outskirts of Manchester – where Bruges were on training camp at the time. But all did not go according to plan.
Believing the pitch to be dangerous for their players, the Belgian club decided not to play the match, before a substitute pitch was found. The new pitch, located on the grounds of a very chic golf course in Mottram St. Andrew, had been built for the German national team, who had stayed in the nearby hotel during Euro 1996. An unusual setting for the players, but also for the fans, who came to admire the spectacle from their gold buggies.
2 Heaton Stannington vs Gabon Olympic
Year: 2012
In search of an opponent to prepare for the 2012 Olympic Games, Gabon thought they would face Newcastle, before the Magpies finally pulled out. This was an opportunity for Heaton Stannington, who play in the 11th tier, to take on one of the most unusual opponents in their history.
And so it was that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, then aged 23, began his English career on the Grounsell Park pitch, a player who would go on to play for some of Europe’s biggest clubs in the years to come. It was a match in which the striker scored a brace in front of a crowd of almost 400 people gathered specially for the occasion. It was a most memorable occasion for team captain Joe Wear, who had run a 10km race that morning but could not pass up the opportunity to play in such a unique match.
1 Real Madrid vs Plymouth Argyle
Year: 2006
In 2006, Fabio Capello, then coach of Real Madrid, was about to take his men to the Schloss Pichlarn at Irding in Austria, to start their pre-season. The problem was that the Italian soon realised that Plymouth Argyle had the same idea and had already booked the venue.
Determined to stay there, Capello contacted the Plymouth management, offering them a deal they could not refuse. If the English club agreed to give up its reservation to the Madrid giants, he would cover all the costs associated with the club’s tour and would also offer them the opportunity to play against his team in a friendly match. The match of a lifetime for the players, as well as for the Pilgrims fans, who were beaten by just one goal that day.