Brighton’s pre-season plans have been altered after pitches they intended to use in France were rendered unusable by helicopter landings during last month’s G7 summit.
The club, initially set to train in Evian-les-Bains, near the Swiss border, from July 23 to August 1, has now relocated to Austria.
The extensive damage to the playing surfaces occurred when helicopters, transporting various heads of state, including US President Donald Trump and former UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, landed during the high-profile G7 summit held last month.
Club staff discovered the issue upon arrival on Wednesday, deeming the pitches a potential injury risk for players.
Head coach Fabian Hurzeler and his squad initially trained at their Lancing ground on Friday, with a move to an alternative Austrian base planned for Sunday.
Sources indicate a contingency plan was already in place, leading to minimal disruption for the team.
Saturday’s friendly against French Ligue 2 side Annecy has been cancelled, replaced by an in-house training match.
A second friendly against Ligue 1 club Strasbourg on August 1 will proceed, though at a different venue.
Brighton’s return home will see them host friendlies against Italian clubs Roma and Bologna on August 8 and 15 respectively.
These fixtures precede the first leg of their Conference League play-offs on August 20, with the Premier League season kicking off three days later against Aston Villa at the Amex Stadium.
Brighton’s transfer window so far
Brighton completed the signing of Croatian defender Luka Vuskovic from Tottenham earlier in July for an initial club record £46m.
The 19-year-old, who played against England at this summer’s World Cup, has agreed a five-year contract with the Seagulls, with an option for a further 12 months. Spurs could receive an additional £4m in add-on fees, taking the overall fee to £50m, and the deal includes a 20 per cent sell-on clause.
Vuskovic joined Tottenham from Hajduk Split in 2025 and spent last season on loan at German club Hamburg. The centre-back, who made no competitive appearances for Spurs, was eager for first-team football and favoured a permanent move over another loan.
Meanwhile, Leeds have admitted they were set to fail Premier League financial regulations if they did not sell defender Pascal Struijk to Brighton & Hove Albion.
The centre-back completed a £20m move on 30 June – the last day of the financial year and potentially saving Leeds from suffering a points penalty. They are now confident they will pass PSR.
The Yorkshire club needed to sell someone to reduce their losses having spent more than £100m on new signings last summer as they built a squad to stay up after winning promotion.
Players in
Luka Vuskovic (Tottenham)
Zadok Yohanna (AIK)
Pascal Struijk (Leeds)
Costinha (Olympiacos)
Michael Svoboda (Venezia)
Rodrigo Rêgo (Benfica B)
Players out
Jan Paul van Hecke (Tottenham)
Diego Coppola (Paris FC)
Jeremy Sarmiento (Middlesbrough)
Do-young Yoon
(1.FC Magdeburg, loan)
James Beadle (Birmingham, loan)
Rodrigo Rêgo (Castellón, loan)
Solly March, Adam Webster, Joel Veltman (all released) James Milner (Retired)