Uhrencup Game 1 – FC Basel Match Preview

In July, as part of their pre-season preparations, Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers travel to Switzerland to take part in Europe’s oldest annual pre-season tournament. The competition which has been running since 1962 comprises 4 teams who play 2 games each.

Historically, 4 British sides have been invited to play in the competition but only two have ever won it; Ipswich Town in 1963 and the current cup holders, Stoke City in 2017. The other two being Celtic who came 4th in 2007 and West Ham who finished 3rd in 2011.
The other 3 teams taking part this year are FC Basel, BSC Young Boys and Dutch side Feyenoord who, like Wolves, will be taking part for the first time.

FC Basel have taken part in the competition 29 times and won it on 13 occasions.
BSC Young Boys have taken part 22 times with 7 wins.

Game 1 will see Wolves take on FC Basel. The game will be played at the Tissot-Arena, Biel on Tuesday July 10th with a kick off time of 6pm CET (5pm UK time)

FC Basel play in the Swiss Super League. In the 2016/2017 season they finished league champions for the eighth time in a row - the club's 20th championship title in total. They also won the Swiss Cup for the twelfth time, completing a sixth double.
In the 2017/2018 season, under new manager Raphaël Wicky, they finished in second place behind BSC Young Boys.

Newly promoted Wolves, under the ownership of Chinese investment company Fosun Group and with the leadership of Head Coach Nuno Espiritó Santo have invested wisely with players since cruising to the 2nd tier league championship in the 2017/2018 season. Having handed permanent contracts to loanees Jota, Boly, Vinagre and Bonatini, Wolves have put their faith in players who performed so well last season. With the addition of the Portuguese national goalkeeper as a free agent and Mexican international striker Raul Jimenez on a season long loan, only the central midfield area looks a bit thin. No doubt Nuno and his team are currently working hard to address the problem.

With the clearly stated ambition of competing with the best in the Premiership and aspiring to play in the Champions League, this game will provide the perfect opportunity for the Coach and players to gauge themselves against a current Champions League team.

Note! This game will be streamed live on Wolves TV.