Al Ahly arrive in Barcelona ahead of Joan Gamper Trophy meeting

Al Ahly have arrived in Barcelona from Montania as they prepare to face Barcelona in the Joan Gamper Trophy on Wednesday 19 August.

The match will be played at Spotify Camp Nou and is scheduled to bring Al Ahly’s pre-season camp in Spain to a close. Hamza Abdelkarim, who previously played for Al Ahly and is now with Barcelona, is expected to feature against his former club.

Al Ahly are due to return to Cairo after the fixture to begin their preparations for the new Egyptian Premier League campaign.

The Egyptian side began their training camp in Spain at the start of August in Seva, a town in the Catalonia region. Seva is approximately 60 kilometres from Barcelona.

During the camp, Al Ahly have played two matches. They opened with a 3-0 victory over Badalona before suffering a 2-1 defeat by Europa.

The fixture against Barcelona is listed for Wednesday 19 August, while Al Ahly’s camp is scheduled to conclude on 20 August before the delegation returns to Cairo.

Al Ahly will begin their Egyptian Premier League campaign against Eastern Company Enppi on Sunday 23 August.

They are scheduled to play 13 of their 19 matches in the opening phase at Cairo Stadium. The Egyptian Premier League is due to start on 21 August, with the first phase set to finish on 20 February.

The second phase is scheduled to begin on 8 March and end on 28 May, provided there is no change to the May calendar because of the finals of continental competitions. That timetable was outlined by Taha Ezzat, chairman of the competitions committee.

The league will be contested in two phases. The opening phase will consist of a single round-robin competition, with the 20 teams playing 19 rounds.

At the end of that stage, the six highest-ranked teams will enter the title group for the second phase. The teams finishing from seventh to 20th will compete in the relegation group.

Al Ahly’s meeting with Barcelona will therefore provide the final test of their Spanish preparations before they switch attention to domestic competition. The match also gives Abdelkarim the opportunity to face the club where he made his name, having moved on to Barcelona after his time with Al Ahly.