On Saturday, Udinese will welcome the reigning LaLiga champions, Barcelona, along with Premier League team Nottingham Forest for a triangular preseason tournament showcasing three back-to-back 45-minute matches.
The inaugural Friuli Venezia Giulia Cup will be held in a round-robin format, beginning with Udinese facing Forest at the Bluenergy Stadium in Udine, Italy.
Next, Forest will take on Barça, before the tournament wraps up with the Spanish champions squaring off against the hosts.
This setup ensures each team gets a total of 90 minutes of action to evaluate their players. Barcelona’s preview of the event characterizes it as “FC Barcelona v Nottingham Forest v Udinese Calcio,” dubbing it “an atypical evening of football.”
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This innovative approach to preseason prepares all three teams for the upcoming league campaigns, though the concept of a tournament is not entirely new.
For instance, in 2002, Barcelona participated in a similar format with Italian club Parma and Dutch side Ajax, although those matches were held over several days and lasted 90 minutes each. The Emirates Cup, organized by Arsenal, is another example of a weekend triangular tournament.
There have also been instances where teams played two matches in one day during preseason, fielding different squads. Last summer, Liverpool‘s reserves triumphed 4-1 over Athletic Club at Anfield, while a separate Liverpool side defeated the same Spanish club 3-2.
In Italy, particularly during the 1990s and 2000s, three 45-minute round-robin matches were a common practice, exemplified by the Trofeo Birra Moretti, which ran from 1997 to 2008.
The format of the upcoming Friuli Venezia Giulia Cup is reminiscent of a triangular competition organized by Barcelona in 2001 against Espanyol and Real Sociedad, which consisted of three 30-minute matches, leading to Barça winning the tournament after a draw with La Real and a victory against Espanyol.