Three-way international game in Udine as part of 2026/27 preseason
FC Barcelona's men's football team will continue their preparations for the start of the 2026/27 season by taking part in the inaugural edition of the international Friuli Venezia Giulia Cup tournament, which will be held on Saturday 8 August at the Bluenergy Stadium in Udine, Italy.
They will compete alongside hosts Udinese Calcio and Nottingham Forest in a three-team tournament bringing together clubs from three of Europe's top leagues, giving all three sides another opportunity to fine-tune their preparations ahead of the start of their respective domestic campaigns.
Organised by Udinese, the tournament forms part of an international promotional initiative led by the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, aimed at raising the area's international profile through sport.
For FC Barcelona, the tournament will mark a special return to Udine almost twenty-one years after the club's last visit on 7 December 2005, when they faced Udinese in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
Three-way round robin
The competition will be played in a three-team format, with three matches lasting 45 minutes each. The schedule is as follows:
- Udinese v Nottingham Forest (8pm CEST)
- FC Barcelona v Nottingham Forest
- Udinese v FC Barcelona
If any of the matches finish level after 45 minutes, the winner will be decided by a penalty shootout. Teams will receive three points for a win in normal time, two points for winning the penalty shootout and one point for losing the shootout.
Top venue
Udine's Bluenergy Stadium will once again host a major international event after recently staging the UEFA Super Cup. Stadio Friuli, as it was originally known, was opened in 1976 but underwent major redevelopment around a decade ago and now seats 25,144 people.