‘Huge’ - Darren Eales confirms big St James’ Park plans for Newcastle United

Newcastle’s home pre-season friendlies have finally been confirmed with the club hosting the inaugural ‘Sela Cup’ at St James’ Park. The cup will see The Magpies face Serie A side Fiorentina on Saturday, August 5 (3:30pm kick-off) before playing La Liga outfit Villarreal on Sunday, August 6 (4pm kick-off).

Ligue 1 side Nice will also take part in the tournament as they also face Fiorentina and Villarreal. In addition, Newcastle Women will face West Bromwich Albion Women in the 6pm kick-off on Saturday.

The winners of the Sela Cup will be decided on a points scoring system with teams awarded the standard three points for a win and one point for a draw but with the added twist of an extra point for every goal scored - promoting attacking football.

Following the Newcastle v Villarreal match on Sunday, the winners of the competition will be awarded the Sela Cup, presented by VisitMalta.

The Sela Cup follows Newcastle’s club record shirt sponsorship deal with Sela announced last month. The deal is understood to be worth around £25million-per-season.

Following the announcement, Newcastle CEO Darren Eales said: “There is huge excitement going into the 2023-24 season, so to be able to give our supporters two days of football involving both our men’s and women’s teams is something that everybody is looking forward to.

“To be able to attract elite clubs from three of Europe’s top leagues shows our ambition to grow as a club and the growing attraction of Newcastle United.

“I would like to sincerely thank our partners, Sela and VisitMalta, for making this possible. Having them on board to offer their expertise in delivering top class events and activations will ensure the tournament is a great weekend for everyone coming to St. James’ Park.”

Tickets are priced at £30 for adults and £15 for concessions per day while two-day tickets can be purchased for £55 for adults and £25 for concessions.

For many fans it will be an opportunity to see summer signing Sandro Tonali in action for potentially the first time in black and white.

The friendly announcement also completes Newcastle’s pre-season schedule which gets under way at Gateshead next Saturday, July 15 (12:30pm kick-off). Eddie Howe’s side then travel to Rangers on July 18 (7:45pm kick-off) before jetting off to the United States for the Premier League summer series which will see them play Chelsea, Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa.

After returning to England, the Magpies will end their pre-season with back-to-back matches against Fiorentina and Villarreal with Howe likely to play two separate line-ups as he did for the Atalanta and Athletic Bilbao friendlies at St James’ Park last summer.

Last season, both friendly matches Newcastle’s Premier League campaign gets under way on Saturday, August 12 at home to Aston Villa (5:30pm kick-off). The Magpies will be hoping to build on their fourth place finish from the 2022-23 season while also competing for the Champions League for the first time in over 20 years.