Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Arsenal complete pre-season fixture list





I had previously thought that the annual pre-season training in Austria would not feature in our plans this summer, with a variety of fixtures already named. However, Arsenal.com have confirmed that we will play an Austian side this year, against a Burgenland XI team, along with the fantasically named Szombathelyi Haladas, who I can’t wait to see play purely based on their name.

For those who don’t know, Burgenland is a smallish region on the Austrian-Hungarian border. A notable team within the region Arsenal fans may recognise is SV Mattersburg, a team we played 2 years ago in pre-season, and beat 2-1. I presume that many players will be taken from Mattersburg’s team, as they have had good success this year in the Austrian Bundesliga. As for Szombathelyi Haladas, Gabor Kiraly, the crazy Hungarian goalkeeper, played for them at one stage, as well as Peter Halmosi, who currently plies his trade at Plymouth. Apparently they missed out on promotion last season for fielding inelligible players, and so stayed in N.B II last season. I would hazard a guess that they will not be stiff opposition for Arsenal, but will perhaps see the youths and reserves that Wenger decides to take with him get a chance to shine in front of Le Boss. The full pre-season fixture list is below:

Barnet Vs ARSENAL

Underhill Stadium, 19th July, 3pm

Szombathelyi Haladas Vs ARSENAL

Szombathelyi, July 22nd, TBC 6.30pm (CET)

Burgenland XI Vs ARSENAL

Ritzing, July 28th, TBC 6.30pm (CET)

Stuttgart Vs ARSENAL

Mercedez-Benz-Arena, July 30th, TBC K.O

ARSENAL Vs Juventus, Emirates Cup

Emirates Stadium, 2nd August, 4.15pm

ARSENAL Vs Real Madrid, Emirates Cup

Emirates Stadium, 3rd August, 4.15pm

Huddersfield Town Vs ARSENAL

Galpharm Stadium, 6th August, 7pm K.O

Ajax Vs ARSENAL, Amsterdam Tournament

Amsterdam ArenA, 8th August, 8.15pm

Sevilla Vs ARSENAL, Amsterdam Tournament

Amsterdam ArenA, 9th August, 6pm

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