Al Ahly agree friendly with Spanish fifth-tier side Badalona during Spain camp

Al Ahly will play Spanish fifth-tier club Badalona in a friendly on 12 August as part of their pre-season training camp in Spain.

The match will take place in Barcelona and has been arranged to help Hussein Ammouta’s squad prepare for the new season. Al Ahly are scheduled to be in Spain from 6 to 20 August, with the fixture against Badalona forming part of their preparations before a high-profile meeting with Barcelona.

Al Ahly will face Barcelona at Camp Nou on 19 August in the 61st edition of the Joan Gamper Trophy. The match is expected to be the final game of the Spanish camp, after which the Egyptian club plans to return home by private aircraft because of the limited time available before the start of the domestic league.

The Egyptian Premier League is due to begin on 21 August, only two days after Al Ahly’s meeting with Barcelona. The draw for the competition is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 5 August.

Al Ahly’s board, headed by Mahmoud El Khatib, has appointed board member Tarek Kandil to lead the club’s football delegation in Spain. The squad is due to fly to the country on Thursday, 6 August, ahead of the overseas training camp.

Badalona’s ownership recently passed to Egyptian businessman Amir Zoher Grana. The club currently compete in the fifth tier of Spanish football.

The game against Barcelona will give Al Ahly the opportunity to make their first appearance in the Joan Gamper Trophy, an annual event that marks the beginning of the new season for Barcelona. Although it is a friendly competition, it is regarded by the club’s supporters as an important celebration and is used as the official occasion for presenting Barcelona’s new team to their fans.

The tournament was established in 1966 at the initiative of Enric Llaudet, who was Barcelona president at the time. It was created in honour of the club’s Swiss founder, Joan Gamper, who established Barcelona in 1899 and helped lay the foundations for the institution that would later become one of the world’s biggest football clubs.

The competition has been held every year since then and has become a permanent part of Barcelona’s pre-season schedule.

In its early years, the Joan Gamper Trophy featured four teams competing in semi-finals, a final and a match to determine third place. Barcelona changed the format in 1997, reducing it to a single match between the Catalan club and an invited opponent. That format remains in place.

For Al Ahly, the Barcelona fixture is the headline event of a demanding build-up to the new campaign. However, the meeting with Badalona will come first, giving Ammouta an opportunity to assess his players during the camp before the side returns to Egypt and begins its league campaign.