Betis, against Winterthur, who played the 1st 'World Cup'

The Betis opens this preseason with a friendly before him FC Winterthur (15:00, Betis TV), team that belongs to the Swiss city of the same name and who is active in the Challenge League, the second division of the Swiss country. A 125-year-old entity that was league champion three times at the beginning of the last century, but who is run down in the last decades after playing assiduously in the top flight for much of its history.

Any time past was better for him Winterthur, which raised his last title in 1917 and a few years before, in 1909, had the privilege of competing in the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, considered by some historians as the first World Cup of soccer. Italy, Germany and Switzerland sent their best respective club but England refused and an amateur team came from the Anglo-Saxon country, the West Auckland, that ended however lraising the title by defeating Winterthur 2-0 in the final.

Currently with no top players, the Swiss team has had in their ranks to well-known faces of world football. One of them, the German coach until the last European Championship, Joachim Löw, in his last days of career as a footballer from 1992 to 94. The Serbian team trotter also played for Winterthur in the 1960s. Bora milutinovic, who has coached no less than 8 teams during his career on the bench.

Pellegrini can't count for the match, which is played at the Schützenwiese stadium, with Calderon neither Dani Martin, as well as with internationals Guido Rodríguez, Guardado, Lainez, William Carvalho Y Rui Silva, who are still on vacation. Fekir, Joaquín and Camarasa, who have had physical problems in recent days, are doubtful. The match is with fans in the stands, but those who attend must carry a vaccination certificate, a proof of having passed the disease or a negative test (PCR, antigens) in the last hours.