Portsmouth closing in on bringing overseas opposition to Fratton Park
Pompey have announced five summer friendlies - with one more to come
Pompey are closing in on unveiling their long-awaited Fratton Park pre-season opponents.
The Blues have been in constructive talks over bringing a foreign club to the south coast for a fixture on Saturday, August 2.
That would represent their final friendly ahead of the start of the Championship campaign the following weekend.
John Mousinho’s men are scheduled to play five games on the road between July 15-29, involving three non-league sides, plus Reading and Crawley.
That would represent a welcome friendly at home, having not staged one since July 2023, when Bristol City’s visit attracted a crowd of 7,986.
Mark Sykes grabbed the only goal for the game for the Robins against a team which included newcomers Will Norris, Regan Poole, Conor Shaughnessy, Terry Devlin, Jack Sparkes, Christian Saydee, Kusini Yengi and Abu Kamara.
No friendly opponents above League One last season
That was the sole opposition Pompey faced from a higher division during that pre-season, not that it did any harm - Mousinho’s troops went on to win League One with two games to spare.
Last summer, they lined-up up against one League Two side (MK Dons) and two from League One (Wycombe and Charlton) - with none from the Championship or above.
Nobody needs reminding that Pompey subsequently stayed up in the Championship with two matches remaining, eventually finishing 16th in their first season back at that level for 12 years.
They are scheduled to be introduced to full training later in the week as they approach flying out to Slovakia on July 5 for a seven-day training camp based near Bratislava.
Non-league opposition for Portsmouth
National League side Woking form the first friendly opposition on Tuesday, July 15, followed by a trip to Farnborough the following day (Wednesday, July 16).
Next it’s a visit to League One side Reading on Saturday, July 26, while the annual visit to Westleigh Park takes place on Tuesday, July 29.
Completing the schedule will be Saturday, August 2 against foreign opponents still to be announced by the Blues.
Meanwhile, the Championship fixtures will be released on Thursday, June 26 at 12pm, with the added interest of Pompey and Southampton occupying the same division for the first time since 2011-12.