Eighth Joan Gamper Trophy against an English team

On 8 August FC Barcelona take on Tottenham Hotspur at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in the 58th Joan Gamper Trophy game. The fixture will see an English team take part for an eight time, Ipswich Town being the first back in 1981. 

In the 1980s English teams were common participants in the Gamper with Manchester City first taking part in 1982. The following year saw the visit of Nottingham Forest and in 1984 Aston Villa took part in the tournament. Spurs made their first appearance two years later in 1986. 

Since then, Premier League teams have been thinner on the ground with only Manchester City in 2009 and Arsenal in 2019 taking part this century. 

First meeting between Spurs and Barça in the Gamper

Tottenham first took part in 1986 and at the time the tournament involved four teams, with two semi-finals and a final. The London club were invited along with Dutch team PSV Eindhoven and Italians AC Milan. The English team lost their semi-final on penalties against PSV after a 1-1 draw and so did not meet Barça in the tournament. Barça beat AC Milan 3-1 in the other semi-final. In the final the blaugranes came out on top defeating their Dutch opponents 1-0. Spurs ended their participation with a win, beating AC Milan in the third and fourth place play off. 

The only other English team to win a game in the Gamper has been Manchester City. In 1982 City beat FC Köln in the final and then in 2009 they beat Barça to claim the trophy.