Bianconeri set for busy summer

Bianconeri set for busy summer

The summer that's about to start will be quite an eventful one for Juventus. There'll be no shortage of prestigious friendlies along the way in the long road taking Ranieri's team up to the two Champions League preliminary games (first leg on August 12th or 13th, second leg on the 26th or 27th).

The schedule has almost been completed by now. The last games to be officially announced were the friendly in Denmark against Brondby, the TIM Trophy and the Berlusconi Trophy. But let's see them in more detail.

Juve will be travelling all around Europe even before the Champions League preliminary round; before setting off to Germany (to play in Dortmund against Borussia Dortmund) and England (to play the Emirates Cup and at Old Trafford in Manchester), they will start off in Denmark. On Wednesday July the 23rd, Juventus will be playing in Copenhagen against one of the most prestigious teams of the country where former Juve star Michael Laudrup was born. Just like on the trip to Dortmund, the Bianconeri will be travelling there and back on the same day.

The month of July will finish with an event in Turin. Indeed for the first time the Olimpico will host the TIM Trophy, which has become a staple of the football summer diet by now. In 2008 it'll be the most prestigious of the three-team formula summer tournaments again, with Inter Milan and AC Milan taking part.

AC Milan will be playing against the Bianconeri in the other traditional summer engagement too, the Berlusconi Trophy. As always, the game will be played at the Meazza in Milan, on August 17th.

Just a few details still need to be defined before work begins again on July 5th, the day the squad departs for Pinzolo. For instance, the venues for the two friendlies to be played during the period in Val Rendena, i.e. the match against Mezzocorona on July 11th and the one against Piacenza on the 16th, the last game before returning to Turin, are still to be selected.

The last details also have to be defined regarding the dates of the Birra Moretti Trophy, and the most traditional of all summer engagements, the showcase at Villar Perosa, still needs to be organized in full too.

This is the calendar of Juventus' summer 2008 engagements that have already been officially announced:

From July 5th to the 16th, summer training camp in Pinzolo, with two friendlies against Mezzocorona (on the 11th) and Piacenza (16th), at venues to be confirmed
July 23rd, friendly against Brondby in Copenhagen
July 26th, friendly against Borussia in Dortmund
July 29th, TIM Trophy in Turin against Inter Milan and AC Milan
August 2-3, Emirates Cup in London against Arsenal and Hamburg
August 6th, friendly against Manchester United in Manchester
August 12th or 13th, Champions League preliminary round first leg
August 17th, Berlusconi Trophy against AC Milan in Milan
August 26th or 27th, Champions League preliminary round second leg
August 31st, 2008/09 Serie A Day 1