What Are Pre-Season Friendlies in Football? And Why Do They Matter?
Description: The results don't count. The trophies aren't real. So why do clubs take pre-season so seriously? Here is everything you need to know.
Every summer, as the noise of the previous season fades, clubs begin announcing a string of matches against unfamiliar opponents, often in far-flung locations and in front of supporters who may never have seen their team play in person before. The atmosphere is noticeably looser. Squads rotate constantly. Young players get opportunities they would rarely see during the regular season.
This is the world of pre-season friendlies, and while they may look like football with the stakes removed, they serve a purpose that is considerably more significant than the results suggest.
Here is what this guide covers:
- What a pre-season friendly actually is
- Why clubs schedule them
- What they offer players and managers
- What supporters should and should not expect
- Some notable moments from pre-season history
- The growing influence of the FIFA Club World Cup
What Is a Pre-Season Friendly?
A pre-season friendly is a non-competitive match played before a club's official season begins. No league points are awarded, no domestic silverware is on the line, and the outcome has no bearing on where a team finishes in any table.
Clubs typically schedule a series of these matches across the summer, playing opponents from lower divisions, international leagues, or local sides. Many are incorporated into training camps or commercial tours abroad, where clubs benefit from favourable weather conditions, build relationships with overseas supporter bases, and generate income through ticket sales and sponsorship activity.
Despite the absence of competitive stakes, these matches are far from casual. They are one of the primary tools through which clubs prepare their squads for the challenges of the coming season, offering something that training sessions alone cannot fully replicate: the pace, unpredictability, and physical demands of a real football match.
Occasionally, friendlies take on an intensity of their own. A player fighting to secure a first-team place will approach a pre-season match with genuine urgency. Local derbies and matches against historic rivals can generate a competitive edge regardless of the official context.
Why Clubs Schedule These Matches
If nothing is at stake, why do clubs fill their summers with football? The answer is that pre-season friendlies serve several distinct and practical purposes, each valuable in its own right.
Rebuilding match fitness
Elite footballers require rest at the end of a long season, but several weeks away from competitive football also means a loss of sharpness that training alone struggles to address. Friendlies allow players to reintroduce their bodies gradually to the demands of a real match, building stamina and rhythm over a series of games rather than attempting to arrive at peak condition all at once.
Trialling tactics and formations
Pre-season is the one period in the calendar when a manager can experiment without meaningful consequence. Trying a new formation, playing a midfielder in an unfamiliar position, or testing a different pressing shape all carry genuine risk during the season. In a pre-season friendly, the cost of a failed experiment is minimal, and the information gathered can be invaluable.
Integrating new arrivals
For clubs that have been active in the transfer market, pre-season provides the time and space for new signings to learn their teammates' movement patterns, absorb tactical information, and settle into the environment. A player who has spent six weeks training and playing alongside their new colleagues will be considerably better prepared for the first competitive fixture than one who arrived the week before it.
Giving younger players minutes
Fringe players and academy prospects rarely get extended opportunities during a competitive season. Pre-season is one of the few moments when they can demonstrate their quality in something resembling real match conditions, potentially changing a manager's plans before a single competitive game has been played.
Commercial activity and global reach
For the largest clubs, pre-season tours have become significant commercial operations in their own right. Tours of the United States, Asia, and Australia generate substantial revenue from ticket sales, merchandise, and sponsorship deals, while also giving supporters in those regions the opportunity to watch their club in person. For fans who may never be able to attend a match at the home ground, a pre-season tour may represent the only chance they get.
Match Fitness and Tactical Development
Think of pre-season friendlies as a bridge. On one side sits the off-season, when players have been resting, recovering, and stepping away from the intensity of professional football. On the other side sits the opening weekend of the competitive campaign, when everything counts.
The bridge between the two is rarely smooth. Early pre-season matches often look noticeably laboured: touches are slightly heavy, passes miss their targets by a yard, and the tempo is slower than supporters are used to. This is entirely normal. Players are rebuilding the physical capacity to operate at full speed for ninety minutes, and that process takes time.
As the weeks progress, the improvement becomes visible. Patterns become more recognisable, the intensity in training lifts, and tactical instructions begin to embed themselves through repetition in live match situations. Managers use the period to rehearse specific aspects of their game plan: how the team presses as a unit, how it transitions between defensive and attacking shapes, how set-pieces are delivered and defended, and how different combinations of players function together.
Nothing in a training session fully replicates what happens when the opposition is trying to beat you. Friendlies provide that missing element without the consequences attached to competitive football.
What Supporters Should and Should Not Expect
Watching pre-season football requires a particular mindset, and supporters who approach it with the same expectations they bring to a league fixture will often find it unsatisfying.
The more helpful framing is to treat pre-season as a rehearsal rather than a performance. A theatre company does not expect its dress rehearsal to be the same standard as opening night. Football clubs are no different.
There is genuine enjoyment to be found in pre-season, however. Matches are often open and free-flowing, with both teams more focused on working through ideas than protecting a result. Young players and new signings appear regularly, offering supporters an early look at faces they may be seeing regularly over the months ahead. The relaxed atmosphere can make for a pleasant afternoon or evening even when the football itself is imperfect.
What supporters should avoid is drawing firm conclusions from what they see. Pre-season form has historically been a poor predictor of competitive performance. Teams that look polished in July sometimes struggle when the season begins, while others that appear unconvincing in friendlies find their rhythm immediately when points are on the line. The variables differ too significantly for the comparison to be reliable.
Notable Moments from Pre-Season History
For all their unofficial status, pre-season friendlies have occasionally produced moments that generated genuine excitement and, in some cases, went on to be widely discussed.
In 2014, Manchester United defeated Real Madrid 3-1 in Michigan in front of a crowd exceeding 100,000 people, a result that illustrated how commercially significant pre-season tours had become and how seriously clubs and supporters treat them regardless of the technical stakes.
In 2018, Arsenal beat Paris Saint-Germain 5-1 in Singapore with a squad containing a significant number of young players. The performance generated considerable optimism about the direction of the club at a time when questions were being asked about its trajectory.
In 2019, Tottenham Hotspur beat Juventus 3-2, with Harry Kane scoring from inside his own half in the final moments. The goal went viral almost immediately, partly because of its quality and partly because the context made it completely unexpected.
Pre-season also carries risk. Injuries sustained in summer matches have derailed players' seasons before they officially began, a reminder that the physical demands of competitive football do not disappear simply because the result does not count.
The Growing Influence of the FIFA Club World Cup
The way clubs approach pre-season has been further complicated by a significant change to one of football's international competitions. The FIFA Club World Cup underwent a substantial expansion in 2025, growing from a small event featuring a handful of continental champions into a 32-club tournament spanning several weeks in a format broadly comparable to the men's World Cup.
The financial and sporting stakes attached to the competition have risen sharply as a result. Chelsea won the 2025 edition and received prize money exceeding $110 million, a figure that dwarfs what many clubs would earn from winning their domestic league. For elite clubs, the tournament has become a genuine target rather than an inconvenient addition to an already congested calendar.
This shift has added a further layer of complexity to pre-season planning. Clubs that expect to participate in the Club World Cup must now structure their summer preparation with that competition in mind alongside their domestic campaign, which requires careful management of squad fitness, travel schedules, and tactical readiness across multiple fronts.
What Pre-Season Is Really For
Pre-season friendlies are not glamorous. The results will not be remembered. The performances will not be scrutinised with the same intensity as a Champions League knockout tie or a title-deciding league fixture. Half the squad may change between the first and last friendly of the summer.
But the work that happens across those weeks matters. The fitness foundations are laid there. The tactical ideas are first tried there. The new signings take their first steps in a team environment there. The young players either make their case or do not.
When the competitive season begins and the results start to count, clubs arrive at that point as a product of everything that happened in the summer before it. Pre-season is where that process starts, and it rarely gets the credit it deserves.
So the next time your club kicks off against an unfamiliar opponent on a warm July evening, pay attention to the details rather than the scoreline. The result will be forgotten by morning. The preparation it represents might shape the next twelve months.