The Joan Gamper trophy already has dates and rivals. Finally, Barcelona will play their historic presentation tournament against the Mexican Pumas and against the French Montpellier, respectively. Xavi’s team will face the UNAM university team at the Spotify Camp Nou on August 7. While Jonatan Giráldez’s team will face Montpellier at the Johan Cruyff on the 23rd of the same month.
The intention of the Blaugrana club was to repeat in 2022 the double session that was inaugurated last season with the double duel against Juventus. Hence, an agreement was reached with Roma as a double rival for this year. The match was to be played on Saturday, August 6.
However, on June 27, the Romanista team announced that it was breaking the pact and giving up traveling to Barcelona for the Gamper.
Barcelona has had to find a rival against the clock and this difficulty has prevented it from being the same opponent for the two Blaugrana football teams.
The 57th Gamper Trophy will come after Xavi’s Barça tour of the United States, which will face Pumas from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Pumas has won his country’s league seven times, the last in 2011. In 2022, the team coached by Argentine Lillini was runner-up in the Concacaf Champions. It will be the second Mexican club to play the tournament since in 2014 León already participated. Pumas, where Hugo Sánchez was trained, won the Santiago Bernabeu Trophy in 2004.
While the second women’s Gamper will once again be at the Johan Cruyff stadium, which last year, due to the pandemic, hosted the two friendlies. The Barcelona players, current League and Cup champions, will face Montpellier, who finished fifth in the last French league.
