We're in the last straight line to the start of the 2024-25 season with two pre-season friendlies and the Supercup on the agenda before we go again. In our last friendly we face Championship side Norwich City FC.
After an intensive training camp at Sint-Michielsgestel and a friendly against Dutch champion PSV (1-1), Blauw-Zwart will be getting ready for the first real game on July 20, when we face Union for the Supercup. In the run-up to the Supercup Club playes two more friendlies.
Tomorrow morning, Club Brugge hosts newly promoted side Dender at the Basecamp (match behind closed doors) and in the evening Club faces Championship side Norwich City at The NEST in Roeselare.
Preparing for the season
Last Saturday PSV entertained Club at De Herdgang in Eindhoven, which concluded Club's summer training camp in the Netherlands.
This third friendly game of Club ended in a 1-1 draw. Nielsen broke the deadlock for Club, but PSV restored the balance fifteen minutes later when Ismaël Saibari sidefooted it in after a run down the left-hand side.
For Club, new signings Christos Tzolis and Zaid Romero played their first minutes for Club.
The opponent
The match against Norwich is the fifth and final friendly before the start of the season. The match will be played at The NEST in Roeselare.
The Canaries are from the East Anglian city of Norwich and play their home matches at Carrow Road. The club was founded in 1902 and grabbed 5 titles in the Championship (last time 2021) and lifted the League Cup tiwce (in 1962 and 1985).
The club is nicknamed The Canaries after the history of breeding the birds in the area, which is represented in the team's yellow-and-green kits. The fans' song "On The Ball, City" is the oldest football chant in the world, written in the 1890s and still sung today.
Since the start of the Premier League in 1992 the club played 10 years at the top level. In the Premier League's inaugural season, Norwich achieved its best league performance by finishing third. It played its only European campaign the following season and made it to the third round of the UEFA Cup.
In recent years, Norwich has been shuffling between the Championship and the Premier League. In both 2019 and 2021, Norwich were crowned winners of the Championship, securing promotion back to the top flight, only to be relegated immediately. Last season, they missed out on promotion. Norwich qualified for the promotion play-offs by finishing sixth in the EFL Championship, but were beaten by Leeds United.
In May of this year the American head coach David Wagner was relieved of his duties, after one- and-a-half year at the club. He has been replaced by the Dane Johannes Thorup, who had a spectacular European campaign with FC Nordsjælland. He signed a three-year contract and must try to get the Yellows back to the top tier of English football.
Norwich City had three players at the UEFA Euro 2024 with Scots Angus Gunn (goalkeeper), Grant Hanley (defender) and Kenny McLean (midfielder).
Last season Josh Sargent was the club's top marksman with sixteen goals, while the Brazilian Gabriel Sara was the assist king with twelve decisive passes.
Norwich played one friendly so far, beating League One club Northampton Town 0-3. Jonathan Rowe bagged a double inside the first quarter of an hour, while U21-player Ken Aboh got his name on the scoresheet late in the game.
On August 10, Norwich open their season with an away fixture against Oxford United, followed quickly with a League Cup match, three days later, against Stevenage FC.