MADRID, 5 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Mexican Pumas will be the rival of the men’s FC Barcelona in the Joan Gamper Trophy, which will be played on August 7 at the Spotify Camp Nou (8:00 p.m.), while the women’s Barça will face the Montpellier Hérault Sport Club at the Johan Cruyff on August 23 (8:00 p.m.) in the same tournament.
“The impossibility of finding the same rival club with a men’s and women’s team available on these calendar dates has not allowed the two Barça football teams to share the same day again to play the Gamper, which bears the name of the founder and which this year reaches its 57th edition”, announced the Barça club.
The resignation of AS Roma, Gamper’s first rival, hastened the search for a new opponent for the tournament, which Jonatan Giráldez’s women’s players will not be able to play on August 7 due to being on vacation after participating in the European Championship in England .
The Club of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), better known as the Pumas and founded in 1954, has played the highest competition in Mexican soccer uninterruptedly since 1962. Among its legendary players is former striker Hugo Sánchez, who was also his coach and led the team to win the Apertura and Clausura tournaments in 2004. The Pumas have won the league championship seven times and have also won the CONCACAF Champions Cup three times, although their last title was the Apertura tournament. from 2011.
Hand in hand with his new coach, Andrés Lillini, he has carried out a renovation of the squad that has seen the departure of emblematic players such as captains Alfredo Talavera and Alan Mozo to incorporate footballers such as Gustavo del Prete and Eduardo ‘Toto’ Salvio.
Meanwhile, Yannick Chandioux’s Montpellier HSC finished fifth in the French league last season, and has players like German striker Lena Petermann, France’s Faustine Robert and Slovakian midfielder Dominika Korvankova.