Donald Trump throws Premier League club's pre-season into disarray

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Tom Weber | Writer

Multilingual sports writer who specialises in European football and American soccer.

Brighton have been forced to cancel their training camp in France because of the recent G7 summit.

The Premier League outfit planned to carry out their preparations for the upcoming season in the French spa town of Evian-les-Bains near the border with Switzerland.

However, according to The Athletic, the club have been compelled to change their plans because last month's G7 summit rendered the pitches they intended to train on unusable.

The pitches were used as landing grounds for the helicopters that transported the various heads of state, including US president Donald Trump, former British prime minister Keir Starmer.

Brighton planned to stay in Evian from July 23 until August 1, but the club staff who arrived on Wednesday deemed the fields to be completely ruined. Consequently, head coach Fabian Hurzeler and his team are set to relocate to Austria on short notice.

Brighton abandon pre-season camp

Due to the cancellation of the camp, Brighton have also been forced to blow off a friendly with Ligue 2 side Annecy, which was supposed to take place on Saturday. They will, however, still play their match against Ligue 1 outfit Strasbourg next week.

Brighton scheduled the camp in France themselves - clubs generally outsource this task - so this has been a major headache for the Seagulls, although club sources reportedly insist that the disruption has been "minimal."

The team trained at their home base on Friday and will play a behind-closed-doors friendly on Saturday before jetting off to Austria. After the rearranged camp, they will face AS Roma and Bologna in friendlies on 8 August and 15 August, respectively.

Because Brighton finished eighth in the Premier League last term, they will have to contend with a bloated early-season schedule. Their Europa Conference League campaign starts with a playoff clash on 20 August against yet-to-be-determined opponents.

They then kick off their domestic season at home to Aston Villa just three days later, before having to play the return fixture in the playoff midweek. Once that is done, a date with Xabi Alonso's Chelsea awaits on 30 August.

Brighton's chaotic pre-season mirrors the history of football in the Evian region. The most notable club from nearby Thonon-les-Bains has had numerous different iterations.

Evian, then backed by prominent French company Danone, made waves in Ligue 1 in the early 2010s but spectacularly ceased to exist after behind-the-scenes turmoil and financial issues. The club folded in 2016 and was revived later that year.

The latest phoenix side, Thonon Evian Grand Geneve Football Club, were founded in 2020 and currently play in the French fifth tier.