Brighton cancel Evian camp after Group of Seven helicopters wreck pitches, switch to Austria | OneFootball

Brighton have cancelled their Evian pre-season camp after Group of Seven helicopter landings left planned training pitches unusable, and will instead head to Austria.

Fabian Hurzeler’s squad were due at the Hotel Royal Resort in Evian-les-Bains from Thursday July 23 to Saturday August 1, using nearby pitches. A club source, granted anonymity to protect relationships, said Brighton were not satisfied with the pitch facilities due to unforeseen circumstances.

The fields became landing zones when leaders including Donald Trump, Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron arrived by helicopter for June’s summit. An advance party on Wednesday reported the surfaces were unusable.

The camp has been abandoned, Saturday’s friendly against Annecy is off, and an alternative base in Austria has been arranged at short notice. The Strasbourg friendly on August 1 will go ahead as planned.

The squad trained at Lancing today, will stage a behind-closed-doors in-house game on Saturday, then travel to Austria on Sunday. The change is said to have had minimal impact.

Brighton usually outsource pre-season camps, but arranged this French trip themselves. Home friendlies against Roma on August 8 and Bologna on August 15 precede the Europa Conference League play-off first leg on August 20, after the draw on August 3. They host Aston Villa to open the Premier League on August 23, the second leg follows on August 27, then Hurzeler’s side visit Chelsea on August 30.

Source: NY Times