Barcelona will open their pre-season with a trip to St Andrew's on Friday, 31 July, where Birmingham City will host the five-time European champions in a friendly that stands out before the new campaign begins.
For Birmingham, the fixture lands at the right moment. The club's preparations for the new Championship season will now include one of the biggest names in world football, and manager Chris Davies will get a home test against a side that rarely appears on this sort of stage. The timing matters too, with the fixtures due on Thursday, 25 June and the league season starting in the weekend of 14-16 August.
Jeremy Dale said Barcelona had chosen to kick off their pre-season campaign with Birmingham City, calling it a fantastic opportunity as the club builds towards the new season. He added that people could see an exciting story unfolding, with one of the most iconic teams in the world bringing its global following to St Andrew's. That is the kind of night Birmingham supporters do not get often, and it comes with a weight that goes beyond a summer friendly.
The match also revives a rivalry that has been dormant for decades. The sides have met five times before, and all five meetings came in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, now associated with the Europa League. Barcelona won the 1960 final 4-1 on aggregate, a reminder that these clubs share history as well as a fixture list. The difference now is the setting: a global powerhouse starting its summer against Birmingham City, in front of a home crowd rather than in one of its own venues.
Birmingham lost only three league games at home last season, so the game gives Davies a meaningful early marker as well as a headline date. It does not answer why Barcelona picked Birmingham City for the opener, but it does show the scale of the invitation. When the fixtures arrive on 25 June, this will already be one of the summer's most watched dates.
