11 of the strangest pre-season friendlies ever

After a mere few weeks of having to cope without it, there’s nothing more refreshing than the return of club football in pre-season.

Or at least, that was the case before the football calendar became bloated beyond belief and now appears to be never ending.

Nothing says pre-season more than waking up in the middle of the night to watch your club field an unrecognisable XI against a side you’ll never hear of again in the depths of East Asia, or in the sun of the United States.

They’re a strange phenomenon in the modern game, are pre-season friendlies, for that very reason above.

Back in the day, before an age of major commercialisation, friendlies existed merely to get squads match sharp before the full season got underway. That returned during the pandemic, too, with clubs unable to go on world tours.

But, now they’re back, and once again we’re all itching to get a glimpse of a new kit, or a new signing, or the same old mistakes going unaddressed. So much so that we’ll find a dodgy stream, get up at any hour of the day or even pay a fee to watch 90 minutes of meaningless football.

As a result, friendlies have made for some beautifully unconventional matchups over the years, between teams that not only have zero reason to be playing one another, but have zero reason to know that each other exist. And with pre-season fast approaching once again, we at GIVEMESPORT think it’s about time we pulled together a list of the very weirdest examples.

Juve and Notts County have had a history together that dates back to 1903, when they replaced their faded pink home strip with the now famous black and white stripes. These were supplied by County.

The Old Lady have been known for their black and white stripes ever since – literally