Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Visit Shots! now
Newcastle United’s pre-season plans are starting to take shape after a Hong Kong U-turn.
Newcastle United news: Headlines, team updates, match previews and reports - all things NUFC
Sign up
Thank you for signing up!
Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Shields Gazette, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more.
Submitting...
A return to the Premier League Summer Series in America had also previously been mooted before Newcastle tried to line up a trip to Hong Kong that would involve playing at the new Kai Tak Stadium this summer.
The plans failed to materialise and instead, it was confirmed that Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and AC Milan would be travelling over as part of the Hong Kong Football Festival 2025 (HKFF).
As a result, it was back to the drawing board for Newcastle. But the club’s plans are finally starting to take shape.
Newcastle United’s pre-season plans
Sky Sports revealed the Newcastle will be returning to Asia to travel to Singapore and South Korea as part of a ‘lucrative’ pre-season tour. The Magpies visited Japan last summer to play two pre-season friendly matches against Urawa Red Diamonds and Yokohama F. Marinos.
Newcastle will also have a pre-season training camp in Europe this summer with a return to Adidas HQ mooted before jetting out to Asia in late July.
Mail Online have reported that Newcastle are in talks to organise a pre-season friendly against Spurs in South Korean capital, Seoul. Tottenham captain and South Korea international Son Heung-Min’s presence would likely attract a sold-out crowd of 66,704 at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.
The report adds that there is a ‘strong possibility’ the match will receive the green light to go ahead and Newcastle will likely play another game in Korea against an ‘All-Star XI’. In addition, they will play one friendly in Singapore, with Arsenal reported to be in contention to face Eddie Howe’s side.
Newcastle and Spurs previously played in a controversial post-season friendly in Australia last May. Newcastle won the game on penalties following a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes.
NUFC looking to secure Champions League football
In addition to pre-season, Newcastle will be on their travels plenty next season with European football already confirmed. The Magpies will be competing in at least the Conference League next season after winning the Carabao Cup.
But Eddie Howe and the club’s ambitions are to achieve more and qualify for the Champions League with nine matches left to play in the Premier League. UEFA rules mean that fifth place in the Premier League is highly likely to qualify for next season’s Champions League group phase.
It would be the first time a side finishing fifth in the Premier League has qualified for the Champions League on league position alone.
Eddie Howe stresses the importance of Champions League qualification
While Newcastle’s Carabao Cup win gave fans and players memories to last a lifetime, there was actually very little financial reward for the club. In comparison, just competing in the Champions League can earn clubs substantial sums.
Newcastle pocketed in excess of £30million for competing in the Champions League in 2023-24 while Aston Villa are understood to have made over £75million after progressing to the quarter-final under the new competition format.
“There's no doubting the power of Champions League football,” Howe said. “It could be game-changing in terms of revenue and also in terms of what it means and the competition, and then of course the changes that you have to make to be ready for Champions League football.
“That changes everything, as we found last year to our cost to some degree with the extra games, so there's a lot to think about.
“But for us, qualifying for that is going to be very, very difficult. There are, as we know, 10 games, there are a lot of teams competing for those places. It's one of the tightest Premier Leagues that we've seen in recent times, very little between the teams competing fr those places, so it's going to come down to who is the most consistent.
“Of course, we want that to be us and in those 10 games, we are going to have to give everything to get there.”