Pompey to face League Two opponents as another pre-season friendly confirmed

Pompey have announced details of a fourth game that will form part of their preparations for their 2025-26 Championship campaign.

With friendly fixtures against non-league sides Woking, Farnborough and Havant &Waterlooville already confirmed, it’s now been revealed that John Mousinho’s side will also take on League Two Crawley during the summer months.

The fixture has been pencilled in for Saturday, July 19, at the Broadfield Stadium, with the game kicking off at 3pm.

It’s the second time in three years the Blues have taken on the Reds in pre-season, with their behind-closed-doors meeting at Pompey’s Hilsea training base in 2023 seeing the hosts run out 9-1 winners. A certain Kusini Yengi - fresh from his move from Western Sydney Wanderers - scored a 22-minute hat-trick that day as he made an instant impact on his Fratton Park return.

Crawley are back in League Two after finishing fourth from bottom in League One last season. Despite the return of promotion-winning manager Scott Lindsey in March and Toby Steward’s successful loan spell at the West Sussex side - including a clean sheet at champions Birmingham - the Reds missed out on survival by one point and returned to the fourth tier at the first time of asking.

The game will see them reunited with Academy product Josh Flint, who moved to the Broadfield Stadium last summer after three-and-a-half years at FC Volendam.

What Pompey’s pre-season schedule looks like

Pompey return for pre-season training on Monday, June 23, before they jet off to Bratislava, Slovakia, for a week-long training camp in early July.

Once again, no game has been scheduled for their latest summer trip away, with head coach John Mousinho keen to maximise the players’ time on the training pitch. However, an open training session will be held on Thursday, July 10, for any fans wanting to travel to Slovakia.

The Blues’ first game of pre-season will be a trip to National League side Woking on Tuesday, July 15 (7pm), with that run-out quickly followed by a game at Farnborough 24 hours later on Wednesday, July 16.

Pompey travel to Crawley on Saturday, July 19, for their next test. And while a game against the Hawks at Westleigh Park on Tuesday, July 29, appears next on their pre-season schedule, the Blues are expected to announce details of another game to be played on Saturday, July 29.

Meanwhile, another ficture is pencilled in for Saturday, August 2 - the week before Pompey begin their latest Championship season on the weekend of August 9/10.

Pompey’s 2025 pre-season at a glance

No fixtures against traditional pre-season opponents Bognor Regis Town or Gosport Borough have been pencilled in this summer due to their ongoing plans to install artificial pitches at Nyewood Lane and Privett Park respectively.

Former Pompey chairman Iain McInness - now the owner of Borough - told The News: ‘I am 74 years old now, so I’m knocking on a bit, and the only way we can sustain football at this level is to go for a 4G pitch.

‘For it to last and be sustainable, it needs an income other than Iain’s chequebook and that’s the reason why we are doing it. I think it will be really good for the community, ourselves and the council.’

For your next Pompey read: ‘Devastating’: Kusini Yengi speaks out for the first time after shock Portsmouth departure