Jaap Stam’s side will return from a ten-day pre-season stay in the Netherlands on Saturday 22nd July and then, the following weekend, Adams Park will be our host for the visit of Vitesse – a team who finished fifth in the top tier in Holland last season.
Madejski Stadium is undergoing a full pitch reconstruction over the summer, a process which will not reach its completion until the very start of the 2017-18 Championship season, so Wycombe will stage the friendly against Henk Fraser’s men.
And this match will be the Royals’ only first team pre-season friendly played on home soil in front of our supporters this summer; our 2016-17 campaign ended more than three weeks later than most other teams and a number of our players have been (or indeed still are) competing internationally with their countries - so the initial priority will be raising our players’ fitness levels and a focus on the team’s tactical work on the training pitches in the first 12 days back.
On Saturday 8th July, we will play back-to-back friendlies against QPR behind closed doors at Hogwood Park, then on Wednesday 12th July the squad will return to Oosterbeek for a pre-season stay which will include a number of games on Dutch soil. Details of these games will be announced in due course.
The game against Vitesse Arnhem will then kick off exactly a week before we begin our Championship campaign at Loftus Road – you can see the full fixture list here.
READING vs VITESSE ARNHEM
Pre-Season Friendly
Saturday 29th July 2017, kick-off 3pm
Adams Park, Wycombe Wanderers
Ticket details
Tickets are now on general sale to all supporters and will be sold via Wycombe Wanderers’ Ticket Office.
Prices are as follows:
|
AGE CATEGORY |
Advance |
Matchday |
|
Adult |
£7 |
£10 |
|
65 & Over |
£5 |
£10 |
|
18-24 |
£5 |
£10 |
|
17 & Under |
£1 |
£5 |
To buy online visit the Wycombe Wanderers' official website, our supporters can call the club's Ticket Office on 01494 441118 or visit the Chairboys' Ticket Office in person at Adams Park (Monday-Friday, 9am to 5pm).
Supporters can ask for match tickets for this match to be posted to them or left for collection on the day of the game.
Alternatively, supporters can ask for tickets to be sent digitally in an email fans can print off and bring to the game or even have scanned on their phones at the Adams Park turnstiles.
Initial tickets will in the Terrace, Beechdean Stand and Panache Stand will be made available to purchase.
Any Vitesse fans hoping to purchase tickets can follow the same booking procedure through the Wycombe Wanderers Ticket Office – away fans will be situated in Blocks H&V of the Beechdean Stand.
Our opponents
Vitesse Arnhem placed behind only title-winners Feyenoord, runners-up Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Utrecht last season – winning 18 games of their 34 in the Eredivisie in 2016-17.
They will also be in need of some competitive football late in their summer as they prepare for the Johan Cruyff Shield (the equivalent of the Community Shield) - a curtain-raiser they qualified for by picking up their first ever KNVB Cup (the Dutch equivalent to the FA Cup) trophy at the end of April.
That 2-0 victory over AZ Alkmaar in Rotterdam came courtesy of a late brace from Ricky van Wolfswinkel, scored in front of more than 46,000.
And Vitesse will also be preparing for Europa League campaign this season courtesy of that cup win - and they begin their league campaign on Saturday 12th August at home to NAC Breda.
Arnhem are managed by former Dutch international Henk Fraser and his assistant is ex-Manchester United goalkeeper and former teammate of Royals boss Jaap Stam, Raimond van der Gouw.
On their playing staff, Vitesse include another former Old Trafford man – left back Alexander Buttner – and last season they had young Chelsea midfielder Lewis Baker on loan at the GelreDome, a player currently competing alongside John Swift in England’s Under-21 European Championships campaign.