Ahead of perhaps the biggest season in modern memory, Newcastle United have further added to a packed pre-season schedule with an extra game now added in August.
Eddie Howe’s globetrotting Mags already have an East Asian tour ahead of them after a trip to Celtic, as well as the huge clash against Atletico Madrid in this year’s Sela Cup.
But soon it’ll be the turn of another Spanish side to play at St James’ Park, and even as a friendly, it will be a good opportunity for the team to send a message ahead of our return to European football come September.
The club announced that La Liga side RCD Espanyol will be our first home pre-season fixture, with the game taking place on Friday, 8th of August (7.30pm kick-off).
Taking place the day before the Sela Cup fixture against Atletico Madrid, the club has emphasised just how important it is that we’re fully fit and ready for the Premier League season ahead, where we play Aston Villa and Liverpool in our opening two fixtures.
“The Friday night match sets the tone for a brilliant weekend of football, with both our men’s and women’s teams facing Atlético Madrid in the Sela Cup the following day.”
Espanyol will be following in the footsteps of a lot of Spanish sides who have been invited to play here in recent seasons.
Last year, we thumped Girona 4-0 thanks to a Sean Longstaff brace, and in 2022 recorded 2-1 wins against both Athletic Bilbao and Rayo Vallecano. Some positive history to think about if we’re wanting to record some big wins before the season starts properly.
The games against Espanyol and Atletico look to be the only two games we will play at St James’ Park in the upcoming pre-season.
Saturday 19th July – Celtic v Newcastle (Celtic Park, Scotland – 3pm)
Sunday 27th July – Arsenal v Newcastle (National Stadium, Singapore – 7.30pm local time)
Wednesday 30th July – K-League All Stars vs Newcastle (Suwon World Cup Stadium, South Korea – 8pm local time)
Sunday 3rd August – Tottenham vs Newcastle – (Seoul World Cup Stadium, South Korea – 8pm local time)
Friday 8th August – Newcastle vs Espanyol (St James’ Park – 7.30pm)
Saturday 9th August – Newcastle v Atletico Madrid (St James’ Park – 4pm)
As part of an action-packed schedule, we’ll first play away to Celtic in Glasgow for the Adidas Trophy on the 19th of July.
Then, we’ll jet off to the Far East as part of another tour of Asia. The first game will be in Singapore against Premier League rivals Arsenal, before a short stay in South Korea sees us play Spurs and Team K League.
In total, that’s six confirmed fixtures for the players to properly warm up ahead of a monumental campaign.
Though it’s not been confirmed just yet, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the team travel to Adidas Global HQ in Germany once again to train at their world-class facilities and play another domestic side like SpVgg Unterhaching.
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