Barcelona to face Basel in friendly three days before Al Ahly meeting

Barcelona will play Swiss club Basel in a pre-season friendly on 16 August, three days before their scheduled Joan Gamper Trophy match against Al Ahly.

The match will take place in Switzerland at St. Jakob-Park, Basel’s home stadium, as Barcelona continue their preparations for the 2026-27 season.

The fixture has been arranged as part of the Spanish club’s build-up to the new campaign. It will be played shortly before Barcelona return to Camp Nou to face Al Ahly in the Joan Gamper Trophy, an annual friendly competition hosted by the Catalan club.

Barcelona are due to meet Al Ahly at Camp Nou on 19 August. The game against Basel on 16 August therefore forms part of a busy sequence of pre-season fixtures before the club begin their competitive schedule.

Before either of those matches, Barcelona are set to face Nottingham Forest in another friendly on the evening of Saturday, 8 August. Hamza Abdelkarim is included in the Barcelona squad for that match.

The club’s first competitive fixture of the new season is scheduled for 23 August, when Barcelona will play Elche in the second round of La Liga.

Barcelona’s meeting with Basel will give the Spanish side another opportunity to assess their preparations away from home, while the fixture against Al Ahly will follow just three days later in front of their supporters at Camp Nou.

The sequence of matches comes before the start of Barcelona’s 2026-27 league campaign, with the club’s meeting with Elche marking their first official game of the season.

The announcement was made by Barcelona on Saturday, 8 August 2026.