- Manchester United will face huge European sides
- They take on Champions League winner PSG
- A trip to Asia was also considered
Manchester United have mapped out their 2026 pre-season schedule, stitching together a demanding tour across Europe.
They begin in Helsinki on 18 July against Wrexham, the club fronted by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, before jetting across to Norway to face Rosenborg in Trondheim on 24 July.
From there, United continues their sweep across the Fennoscandian peninsula. Atletico Madrid await in Stockholm, before Paris Saint-Germain provide the next test a week later in Gothenburg.
However, the itinerary does not end there. United will then travel to Dublin to face Leeds on 12 August, with Croke Park—better known for hurling and Gaelic football—set to stage the fixture.
The ground has not hosted a football match since November 2009, when Thierry Henry’s infamous handball teed up William Gallas to send France to the 2010 World Cup.
Finally, United round off their preparations in Wroclaw, taking on AC Milan on 15 August—just a week before the Premier League curtain rises.
European tour
A demanding European tour across the space of just 28 days. If any United player reaches the World Cup final, it will fall just a day after United face Wrexham, with the game colliding directly with the club’s pre-season schedule.
Meanwhile, with the tournament staged in North America, the squad will stay closer to home, spending extended periods at Carrington rather than embarking on the globe-trotting tours of recent summers.
According to Laurie Whitwell and Andy Mitten of The Athletic, United did have interest from Asia in staging some friendlies there, but it seems to have decided against that.
Manchester United and Nordic countries
This trip will be Manchester United’s first trip to Finland in over 60 years. In 1965, the Reds returned to the European Cup for the first time since the Munich Air disaster in 1958.
In the preliminary round, United faced off against HJK Helsinki. Sir Matt Busby’s boys proved too strong for the Finnish outfit, dismantling them 3-2 away before tearing them apart 6-0 at Old Trafford.
It will also be their first trip to Sweden in a few years. The last time they faced a Swedish side was in the 1994/95 Champions League, where they recorded one win and one loss against IFK Goteborg.
Their last match in Sweden, however, came in the 2017 Europa League final. Jose Mourinho’s United faced Ajax at Friends Arena in Stockholm, where they ran out easy 2-0 winners to secure their first European title since 2008.
The Red Devils’ sternest tests on this pre-season tour will come in Sweden. They take on Atletico Madrid before squaring off against European champions PSG just a week later.
United have never beaten Atletico, drawing twice and losing twice, while they hold a balanced record against the French side with two wins and two defeats.
However, the most memorable meeting came in Paris seven years ago, when interim boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer guided his side to a stunning turnaround.
After trailing 2-0 from the first leg, United stormed to a 3-1 victory, with Marcus Rashford burying a last-minute penalty to stun the Parc des Princes.
