Barcelona are back. Well, sort of.
Spain’s La Liga champions return to training today, but Hansi Flick’s group will be looking a little short for a while longer yet. Plenty of first-teamers are still away at the World Cup and others are on holiday after elimination from the tournament.
All Barcelona players at the World Cup are guaranteed a three-week break before coming back to Catalonia.
So what does that mean for pre-season? Who will Barca face in friendlies this month? And when does La Liga restart?
Are Barcelona playing any friendlies?
Barca’s first friendly of pre-season will be a behind-closed-doors match against CE Europa, a third-tier side from Barcelona, on July 24.
Three days later, Flick’s squad begin a training camp at St George’s Park — where the English national team trains near Burton upon Trent. They will be there from July 27 until August 3, and they will also play friendly matches.
One has already been confirmed against second-tier Birmingham City at their St Andrew’s home ground on July 31. Barca sources say they are working to schedule a second match in England, which will most likely be played behind closed doors.
La temporada 2026/27 empieza hoy. 🩺💪 pic.twitter.com/vRVt5qxzD0
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) July 13, 2026
After their week in England, Barca will take part in a pre-season tournament in northern Italy alongside hosts Udinese and Nottingham Forest. The dates have not yet been arranged, but Barca sources say their participation has already been agreed.
Barca’s final friendly of the summer will be their traditional Joan Gamper Trophy curtain-raiser. There is still no date or opponent confirmed, but it is expected to take place on August 19 at the Camp Nou as things stand.
Who is back for training?
Of the first team, Flick will have Wojciech Szczesny, Alejandro Balde, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Marc Bernal, Roony Bardghji and Fermin Lopez at his disposal. Fermin, however, might not take part in regular training at first as he is still recovering from the foot fracture that ruled him out of the World Cup.
Making up the numbers will be several youth academy players — and those who make an impression might well be given a further opportunity at St George’s Park.
What’s the plan for the rest of the team?
Including new signing Anthony Gordon, a total of 13 Barcelona first-team players were called up for their national sides for the World Cup. Joao Cancelo, who is close to joining in a permanent deal from Al Hilal, would make that number 14. They were guaranteed three weeks of holidays that would start as soon as they were eliminated.
Ronald Araujo, whose Uruguay team were knocked out in the group stage, should be back next week. After him, Frenkie de Jong will also return, as the Netherlands were eliminated in the round of 32. Raphinha should join a few days later as Brazil lost to Norway in the last 16.
Those who have progressed to the semi-finals (and therefore also a final or third-place play-off) won’t be back at Barca until August 10. This includes England winger Gordon, France’s Jules Kounde and the eight players called up by Spain: Pau Cubarsi, Gavi, Ferran Torres, Pedri, Lamine Yamal, Joan Garcia, Dani Olmo and Eric Garcia.
When does Barcelona’s La Liga season start?
When La Liga released the 2026-27 fixtures on June 30, Barcelona’s first match, at home to Athletic Club, was scheduled for the weekend of August 15-16.
However, Barca will now start later.
On June 9, it was agreed that teams who had at least one player competing in the World Cup semi-finals would have their opening fixture postponed to guarantee rest time and proper preparation.
¡Volvemos al trabajo! 😍 pic.twitter.com/GmOiQXEWsl
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) July 13, 2026
That means Barcelona will start their title defence on the following weekend of August 22-23 with a visit to Elche.
As of now, the Athletic game is likely to played in the midweek following the Elche tie. Barca’s third match of the new campaign will take place over the weekend of August 29-30, at home to Rayo Vallecano.
What should we expect to happen before then?
New additions and possible departures. Barcelona are still working in the transfer window, with Karim Adeyemi from Borussia Dortmund set to be their latest arrival in a deal worth €22million (£18.7m; $25.1m) plus add-ons. They are also still keen to sign Atletico Madrid’s Argentina striker Julian Alvarez, with that one likely to heat up again after the World Cup.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen is on his way to agreeing a one-year loan deal to Ajax, and Barca are open to selling La Masia graduate Marc Casado this summer. The 22-year-old had a limited role last season and would be a good asset to raise funds. Bardghji is expected to leave too, most likely on loan.
The situation of Ferran Torres is also one to watch, with Barca also open to selling the 25-year-old, to avoid having to make an additional payment to Manchester City.
