FC Barcelona 2026/27 Season Preview

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·19 August 2026

FC Barcelona 2026/27 Season Preview

The back-to-back defending champions FC Barcelona are ready to write another chapter of their history. The young, confident team is coming off the back of a hugely successful World Cup where eight of its active players ended up on the victorious side. Can Hansi Flick and his men stop the resurgence attempt of Real Madrid and end up three-peating the La Liga title? Find out in this FC Barcelona 2026/27 season preview.

The FC Barcelona 2026/27 season starts later than usual

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The World Cup Momentum

As previously mentioned, eight Barcelona players are coming off of a victorious World Cup campaign. Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Gavi, Joan Garcia, Pau Cubarsí, Eric Garcia, Ferran Torres and Dani Olmo all left the tournament with a gold medal around their neck.

Pau Cubarsí was the young player of the tournament. Lamine Yamal, although not at his best, had his speed and unpredictability constantly troubling the teams facing Spain. Ferran Torres, though not a Barcelona player anymore, scored the all-important goal to win them the tournament. Pedri was ever-present in the midfield, dictating things with now his partner in the Barcelona midfield, Rodri.

The fatigue from the World Cup must have worn off now, because they will be back within a week, to play the first game of the season against Elche. But the impact of winning a World Cup and being protagonists of such a historic campaign will definitely be a morale boost.

For someone like Ferran Torres, it was such a morale boost that he even left the club, saying Barcelona must show that they love him for him to stay. But for others who chose to stay behind, for those who still have to prove something like Fermin, this World Cup would be a great springboard for them to build on to the next season as they chase the elusive Champions League title.

FC Barcelona 2026/27 Preseason

The FC Barcelona 2026/27 preseason wasn’t as eventful as Real Madrid’s, who spent their preparation without a loss. Barcelona, with eight players on holiday due to the World Cup final, only had their full squad back a month close to the World Cup final.

The first action we saw from Barcelona this season was a 4-1 victory against CE Europa behind closed doors on July 24. Most of the match was played with academy players.

The first official friendly Barça played was against Birmingham City a week later, in which they drew 2-2 against Jude Bellingham’s boyhood club, who was in attendance to cheer them on. A penalty shootout was conducted to decide the victor of the game, which Barcelona embarrassingly lost.

Barça followed it up with an interesting tournament in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Cup, where they played two 45-minute-half games, one against Nottingham Forest and Udinese. They won 1-0 against Forest but lost 1-0 to Udinese, ultimately losing the invitational trophy as well.

Against FC Basel, Barça were back to their best as they scored five goals but also conceded twice. This was a near-full-strength squad and the chemistry instantly showed. New signings Karim Adeyemi and Jesse Bisiwu got on the scoresheet, alongside Hamza Abdelkarim and Lamine Yamal.

Barça are expected to play one last preseason game, their traditional preseason opener: The Joan Gamper Trophy against Egyptian side Al-Ahly. Preseason has been a mixed bag for the Catalan club this season. Hopefully not a reflection of their season ahead.

FC Barcelona 2026/27 Transfers

Until a few days ago, when the signings of Rodri and João Cancelo were leaked to the press, Barcelona fans really did not know what to expect from their transfer window.

IN:

Before the World Cup started, they signed Anthony Gordon from Newcastle to reinforce their front line. Robert Lewandowski had left, and there was no one to fill that spot. They followed it up with another forward signing in Karim Adeyemi a few weeks later.

There was a pattern in both of these signings because both of them were expected to play multiple positions in the front line. But there was still no out-and-out replacement for Lewandowski planned.

The Striker Crisis

By now, I’m sure everyone is aware of the Julián Álvarez and FC Barcelona 2026/27 saga. I have talked about it many times in many articles, so I will not repeat it. But the bottom line is that Barcelona’s ideal target was Julián Álvarez from Atlético Madrid. But Atlético Madrid are in no mood to negotiate. They have gone out publicly to say that they will never sell Julián to Barça. Julián is depressed and feels like he’s in a prison, but he has contractual obligations to follow.

For strikers, Barça have also looked at other options. The name that came closest was Luis Suárez from Sporting, but that option was also discarded pretty quickly. They were linked to Viktor Gyökeres for a brief period, but Arsenal also don’t look to want to sell Gyökeres. Jesse Bisiwu is a good signing for Barca but he is also a winger and is untested and unproven.

For the striker position, I think Barcelona doesn’t need to worry too much since they already signed three players who can play in that position. Not to forget, they already have Hamza Abdelkarim. The Egyptian had a great preseason, scoring three goals in those matches, and has looked quite sharp whenever he has led the line for Barça.

Other Concerning Areas

Barça’s main concerns have been at the back because of Flick’s high-intensity system. Rumors swirled around Aymeric Laporte and Cristian Romero throughout the season, and even Bastoni before the transfer window started. But Barcelona so far still haven’t made any reinforcements to their backline.

They have signed their version of Galáctico in Rodri. Rodri also, like Julián Álvarez, was linked with Barça and Real Madrid at the same time. Real Madrid were very close to convincing Rodri to join the club according to multiple reports. But for factors that we don’t know at the moment, the Madrid-born Ballon D’or winner decided to go to Barcelona in a team which will be very familiar to him, considering eight of his World Cup-winning mates will be there at the club level.

The prospect of playing for back-to-back Spanish champions, the romanticism of succeeding Sergio Busquets as defensive pivot heir, and just playing in a system that has much more stability and guarantee of winning titles, I think Rodri’s decision to join Barcelona makes a lot of sense.

The only defensive reinforcement Barcelona has made so far is that of João Cancelo, who terminated his contract with Al Hilal to join Barcelona on a free. João Cancelo has had two loan spells at Barcelona and has been impressive on both occasions, and has been pushing for a move all summer to come back to Catalonia. His signing has also been greenlit, but the official announcement is yet to come from Barça.

OUTS for Barca:

What to Expect: FC Barcelona 2026/27?

There is no doubt that this Barcelona team is overflowing with quality. Some of the best players in the world play here. The concerning positions are the defense, because that’s where they have the least amount of depth. They also let Ronald Araújo go to Liverpool, which has significantly thinned the center-back pool at the club.

Hansi Flick is not expected to dismiss his intense, high-line system that has proven successful but has also taken a toll on its players. Some players are just not meant to thrive under every philosophy.

When you look at players like Pau Cubarsi or Gerard Martín in the Barça backline, they are great defenders in their own right, but maybe this system isn’t ideal for them. Hansi Flick has to find a solution or an alternative that works when his Plan A is not working.

The 4-2-3-1?

I think with the addition of Rodri, Barça will have unprecedented control in midfield, especially if they play the double pivot of Pedri and Rodri. Someone like Dani Olmo or Fermín will be ahead of them, flanked by Lamine Yamal on one side and Raphinha/Anthony Gordon on another. And in front of that midfield, they get Hamza Abdelkarim. This team will be scoring a lot of goals.

Expected line up for FC Barcelona 2026/27

As is the pattern with Hansi Flick’s teams, they will concede a lot, but they can’t lose if they score more than the opponents. They have reinforced their squad, they have made signings that the manager wants, academy products have also started to grow into first-team dynamics. A third La Liga title is surely on the cards.

What happens in the Champions League and the Copa del Rey is a different story. Again, with the team that they have, they should at the minimum, be semi-finalists of the Champions League this season. They can rotate, they can experiment, as long as they do not discard their philosophy.

Barcelona will win La Liga this season, and maybe the Copa del Rey as well. But the Champions League remains to be seen.

My prediction: Champions of La Liga. 1st.