Newcastle Confirm Pre-Season Trip to Portugal

Newcastle United will be heading over to Portugal to take part in the 'Guadiana Torneo.', it was announced today.

Alan Pardew’s men will face Greek side Olympiacos and Portugal’s FC Porto in the three-team tournament at the Algarve Stadium, near Faro.

The Magpies’ first game will be against Olympiacos on Friday, July 27 (8.45pm kick-off local time) before the take on FC Porto the following day, kick-off also 8:45pm.

It had been expected that Newcastle would play in South Africa in the Vodacom Challenge, which is the top pre-season tournament in Africa, and is hosted by the Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs.

But it does now appear that the club will be staying on the continent, and will instead come up against the Greek and Portuguese champions. 

Here is the line-up of games for the tournament with each side playing two games:

Thursday, 26th July – FC Porto v Olympiacos (8.45pm kick-off)
Friday, 27th July – Newcastle United v Olympiacos (8.45pm kick-off)
Saturday, 28th July – Newcastle United v FC Porto (8.45pm kick-off) 

These two teams will provide tough opposition for the Toon with FC Porto having won their National Championship for six of the last seven seasons. Olympiacos, also, have dominated the top domestic league in Greece, having won 7 of the last 8 Greek league titles.

This news comes after the club confirmed last week that they will be travelling to Wales for a pre-season fixture against Cardiff City on Saturday August 11th. With 4 fixtures having been confirmed, the club still need to organise another 3 fixtures during the off season. Therefore, there is a possibility that the  preseason tournament in South Africa could still be an option.

The Vodacom tournament usually takes place around the middle of July, and last year when Tottenham played, the games took place from 16th July through 23rd July.

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