Barcelona and Nottingham Forest are set to meet in a preseason test that is part of the inaugural Friuli Venezia Giulia Cup, a triangular event built around three 45-minute matches played back-to-back. The fixture lands in Udine, Italy, where Barcelona will finish the round-robin against Udinese at the Bluenergy Stadium after Udinese open against Nottingham Forest.
That format is the reason the matchup is drawing attention now. Instead of a standard friendly, the winner of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Cup will be determined by results across all three short matches, so every goal and every interval matters in the same compressed window. Barcelona vs Nottingham Forest is the middle act in a schedule that has one side waiting its turn to see how the table takes shape before the final whistle of the day.
Hansi Flick’s side comes in with only one preseason friendly behind it, a 2-2 draw with Birmingham City that became a 3-2 loss on penalties. Nottingham Forest arrive with more minutes in their legs, having already beaten Notts County and Blackburn Rovers before falling 4-1 to Celtic. That contrast makes the meeting less about polished rhythm and more about which squad can handle a faster, less familiar test.
The viewing setup is just as fragmented as the tournament itself. Fans in the United States can watch on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo, with Paramount+ requiring a paid subscription. The match is also streamed on Barça Play and the FC Barcelona YouTube Channel for premium members. In Canada and Mexico, those same Barça Play and FC Barcelona YouTube Channel options are the only ways in. In the United Kingdom, the fixture is available on Forest TV, but only subscribers with an active Forest TV subscription can see it.
That leaves the competition with a simple but unusual shape: three clubs, three 45-minute matches, and one standings result emerging from a day built to keep players moving and coaches learning. Barcelona’s limited preseason so far and Nottingham Forest’s mixed run add another layer, but the format itself is the headline. By the time Barcelona face Udinese, the tournament will have already answered the first half of its own question: who adapted quickest to a brief, compressed, and very public preseason exam.
