Birmingham City confirm fifth friendly date ahead of pre-season return

Birmingham City have confirmed another pre-season friendly against Burton Albion at the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday, July 19

Birmingham City’s first team squad are due to report for pre-season in two weeks' time in preparation for the new Championship season.

The League One champions concluded their campaign at Cambridge United on May 3, meaning they are now six weeks into their summer break.

Several members of the squad enjoyed a celebratory holiday in Ibiza and they are all now spending time with friends and family after an arduous 60-game campaign.

Blues have confirmed Grant Hanley and Lee Myung-jae will depart at the end of their contracts and loanees Ben Davies, Kieran Dowell and Luke Harris have returned to their parent clubs.

All of the remaining squad members, plus those who spent 2024/25 out on loan, are due to report to the Elite Performance and Innovation Centre on Wednesday June, 25. Jay Stansfield will report at a later date having been selected for England under-21 duty.

The first few days will be made up of the usual testing procedures with head of sports science Dhani Pattinson-Hughes taking the lead, before pre-season training commences with Chris Davies.

The first week of pre-season training will begin on Monday, June 30 before Blues fly out to Albufeira, Portugal for a week-long training camp between July 7-13.

Blues will play their first friendly in Portugal at the end of the second week of pre-season training, although the opponents haven’t been confirmed yet.

There will be further domestic friendlies once Blues return to the UK before the Championship season begins the weekend of August 9 and 10.

Blues have pencilled in The Arthur Cup against Solihull Moors for Wednesday, July 16 and they will travel to Burton Albion on Saturday, July 19 before a double-header versus Northampton and Port Vale on Saturday, July 26.

The final warm up game on Saturday, August 2 will see Blues take on an unnamed side in the annual Trevor Francis memorial match at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park. Rangers were the opponents last year and the idea initially was to take on one of Francis' former clubs, but the list isn't that long.

Francis also represented Nottingham Forest, Manchester City, Sampdoria, Atalanta and Sheffield Wednesday during his illustrious playing career.

Who should Blues take on in the Trevor Francis memorial match? Tell us HERE

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