Aston Villa have confirmed three pre-season fixtures ahead of their 2026-27 Champions League campaign with further announcements expected.
- Villa face Walsall at the Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium on Tuesday 21 July, kick-off 7:30pm
- A Hong Kong showpiece against Bayern Munich follows on Friday 7 August at the inaugural Audi Football Summit
- The pre-season schedule concludes with a trip to Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday 15 August, kick-off 3:30pm local time
- All fixtures will be broadcast live on VillaTV with streaming information to follow
Walsall. The traditional opener
Tuesday 21 July marks the start of Villa’s pre-season campaign in the most traditional and locally rooted way possible. The fixture against Walsall at the Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium has become a familiar and warmly anticipated annual occasion a community fixture that connects the club to its West Midlands roots before the serious business of the season begins.
Kick-off is at 7:30pm. Ticket details will be confirmed in due course. For supporters who cannot attend, the match will be broadcast live on VillaTV. The fixture serves a specific and practical pre-season purpose giving Emery the opportunity to assess his squad’s fitness levels, integrate returning World Cup players, and begin building the collective understanding that Champions League football will demand from the opening weeks of the season.
Several of Villa’s World Cup representatives including Martinez, Rogers, Watkins, McGinn and Tielemans, will return to Bodymoor Heath after the tournament concludes in mid-July. The Walsall fixture provides the first collective opportunity to assess their post-tournament condition.
Hong Kong. The Audi Football summit
Friday 7 August takes Villa’s pre-season schedule to an entirely different level. The inaugural Audi Football Summit in Hong Kong brings together two of European football’s most iconic clubs with Emery’s Europa League winners facing Bayern Munich in one of the summer’s most eagerly anticipated pre-season showpieces.
The fixture carries specific historical resonance. Villa defeated Bayern Munich 1-0 in the 1982 European Cup final, the club’s greatest ever result. Facing the German giants in Hong Kong ahead of a Champions League campaign provides a compelling narrative connection between past and present glory.
The commercial significance is equally important. Villa’s growing global brand and the rising front of shirt sponsorship fair market value confirmed this week is best amplified through high-profile international fixtures against elite opponents. Hong Kong and the Asian market represent exactly the kind of commercial territory that Champions League clubs must cultivate.
Mönchengladbach: a specific and interesting choice
Saturday 15 August takes Villa to Germany for their final confirmed pre-season fixture: a trip to Borussia-Park to face Borussia Mönchengladbach. Kick-off is at 3:30pm local time. Fair to say that this fixture arrives just three days after the UEFA Super Cup against PSG making it a meaningful final tune-up before the Premier League campaign begins.
The choice of opponent carries a specific transfer dimension. Villa have been linked with Mönchengladbach goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas throughout this window with a £13m release clause understood to be under consideration. Of course, visiting Borussia-Park in pre-season could accelerate that specific recruitment conversation significantly. The timing feels entirely deliberate.
Mönchengladbach finished 12th in last season’s Bundesliga, providing a competitive but manageable pre-season test for a squad that will need to be operating at full intensity before the Champions League group stage begins.
The bigger picture. More fixtures to come
Villa have confirmed that further pre-season fixtures, both domestic and overseas, will be announced in due course. The current schedule places three confirmed matches across a four-week period from 21 July to 15 August. The UEFA Super Cup against PSG on 12 August sits within that same window, meaning Villa’s August schedule is already one of the most demanding and exciting pre-season programmes in the club’s modern history.
ReadAstonVilla Verdict
Three pre-season fixtures. One local tradition. One global showpiece. One German trip that could double as a transfer conversation. Emery’s squad preparation for the Champions League is taking shape and the fixtures confirmed so far reflect a club operating at a level that would have been unimaginable just four years ago. Cannot wait for it to start.
