Town Complete Friendly Programme at Union Berlin
Friday, 14th Aug 2026 13:55

Town complete their pre-season programme when they face Bundesliga side Union Berlin at their Stadion An der Alten Försterel on Saturday afternoon (KO 3.30pm local time/2.30pm BST).

The Blues go into the game, their only public overseas friendly this summer, following victories over Le Havre, 1-0, and Rayo Vallecano, 3-0, at Portman Road.

Manager Gary O’Neil started what looks to be essentially his first-choice XI in those games and is set to take a similar approach tomorrow with Sasa Lukic set to make his first appearance in a Town shirt having signed too late to play against the La Liga side.

Asked following the victory over Vallecano whether the team which faces Union tomorrow will be the one which lines up against Sunderland at Portman Road on the opening day a week later, O’Neil said: “Broadly. I don’t know the XI that’s going to start against Sunderland. Even today we played to win, so today I picked a team that I thought would win.

“There might be some new arrivals by then, there might be some things that I see that I feel like need changing, but today was picked off the basis of trying to win the game. So that next week will be the same, not the same team, but the same idea, trying to win.”

Town are close to announcing two new arrivals, Strasbourg pair Julio Enciso and Abdoul Ouattara, but neither will be involved tomorrow.

Keeper Christian Walton and winger Jaden Philogene both travelled with the squad to Germany for the training camp having missed all the previous pre-season matches.

 Neither George Hirst nor Alex Palmer made the trip to Germany with outward transfer moves ongoing, while Azor Matusiwa and Jack Taylor are continuing their recoveries following their summer surgery and aren’t expected to be ready for a game until the Sunderland match at best.

Union Berlin finished 11th in the Bundesliga last term. During pre-season they beat lower league sides Rathenow and SV Grun-Weiss Lubben 12-2 and 16-0 respectively, before a 1-1 draw at fourth-tier Chemnitz.

They were then defeated 2-0 by 2. Bundesliga Carl Zeiss Jena, before a 1-1 draw with Swiss second-tier side Winterthur and then a 2-1 defeat to Aarau from the same league.

They were then beaten by 2. Bundesliga Dynamo Dresden by the same scoreline, before their first home-based friendly, a 2-2 draw with Serie A Cagliari.

Last Sunday, they beat Cypriots Aris Limassol 3-2 at Stadion An der Alten Försterel.

The game is being streamed live on TownTV in the UK.

Photo: TWTD

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MaySixth added 14:09 - Aug 14 No injuries please.
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dirtydingusmagee added 14:22 - Aug 14 Know nothing about the Berlin, but would be good to get a creditable win under the belt before we get down to the real nitty gritty.COYB.
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Tedray added 14:39 - Aug 14 How things change but I suppose needs must. We are an English team from England but from now on will barely field an Englishman in our team.However I am sure that we will support them all.
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TresBonne added 14:50 - Aug 14 Well, the comment above me is rather pointless.
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dirtydingusmagee added 15:03 - Aug 14 Tedray keep up, its the same at a lot of clubs,and has no influence on support.
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churchmans81 added 15:04 - Aug 14 Tedray. What a ridiculous point! For those of us growing up watching Burley, Wark, Hunter, Brazil, Muhren, Thijssen, Zondervan, Forrest, De Vos, Holland, Reuser, Magilton through to going crazy when Sarmiento scored against Southampton, nationality was never an issue, they all wore the blue & white shirt, so why would it be now?
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Goddyblue added 15:13 - Aug 14 Sorry Tedray, a very wasted post. Have to agree with all the posts before me, we support the team first and foremost, not their lineage
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bedsitfc added 15:31 - Aug 14

Tedray unfortunately you will get a lot of hate for your post (not from me)
I see where you are coming from and it’s the reason England will never win a World Cup the very few players that are good enough are spread out between 6/7 teams and we expect them to be rivals but somehow best mates when joining up with England.

More England qualifing players are required in the best league

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Linkboy13 added 15:55 - Aug 14

Dispite not winning the world cup England have been consistently one of the best teams in the world. For players to improve they need to play with and against the best players in the world. Twenty or thirty years ago we were miles behind other countries like Germany, Spain, Italy, Brazil etc now we can compete with the best of them especially in the art of ball retention which was always our problem. Our players have benefited enormously from mixing with the best players in the world. A lPremier league of primarily just British players although still entertaining wouldn't be no where near the standard of the current Premier league. It's up to our players to prove they are better than the foreign players that's how standard's improve.

WalkRules added 16:04 - Aug 14 It is tougher for academy players coming through however if they are good enough they will get their chance. Its the same at my work - the best people get the jobs based upon their performance so don't see why football would be any different. Them's the breaks. I support the badge, not labels. If you are wearing an Ipswich shirt, you have my backing. COYB.
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ITFC_1994 added 16:33 - Aug 14 No words for Tedray, absolute muppet.....
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Tedray added 16:37 - Aug 14

Bedsitfc - we could perhaps have a good debate here and I take onboard the comments. Back in the day most english teams fielded home grown players with if they were lucky a local star or two. Teams like Man Utd (Busby Babes) and possibly Leeds boasted a lot of players from the local area therefore truly representing their local town or city. We have since then seen a radical change in many things ,the demise of British managers the thirst for success, foreign ownership and the enormous funds now available If teams have the resources they can now buy from the world wide pool of players thereby restricting the likelihood of local players being able to represent their home team. This may well improve the standard of such "English" players as there are which is a good thing. However will the team that takes the field at Portman Road shortly be Ipswich Town or just the best that money can buy ,like all the others in the Premier League rather than a team with some allegance to the town or city that it purports to represent.Just trying to give a different perspective but of course like any other Ipswich supporter I shall be excited by each new arrival and hope that "Town" do well this coming season...... Now where is my tin hat...........

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 17:16 - Aug 14

Tedray is making the point that globalisation and money have radically changed the nature of the football that some of us grew up with. He's not being insulting or racist, so I don't think he deserves some of the abuse above. Personally, I think that foreign players in English sides create a more exciting experience, and anyway it's nothing that we can change as things stand; some of them really do develop a loyalty to their club and the supporters, while many others are probably just in it for as much money as they can get. That's the nature of the business - and the world today!

armchaircritic59 added 18:48 - Aug 14

Ok, well just a quick heads up about our opponents tomorrow and the ones we've previously faced so far, using Opta Stats world club guide, up to date as of today. For reference they have us at 41st.

Osasuna: 92
Le Havre: 199
Union Berlin:113

I've obviously not included the games against Oxford and Wycombe as it would be pointless. Or the walk around against the Spanish lower league side at the beginning for the same reason. It is just a guide, please note!

Robert_Garrett added 19:56 - Aug 14 Google Edwin Dutton 1890-1972, an englishman who played soccer in Berlin and was a coach at Ipswich 1927. 1914-1918 he was a POW interred in Ruhleben part of West Berlin. As Kennedy said "Ich bin ein Berliner"whilst in Berlin - I am a jam doughnut! Roll on Union tomorrow in friendly Berlin....................................
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armchaircritic59 added 20:00 - Aug 14 Oh I missed out Rayo Vallecano above, think that must have been when I had the " phone alert " and nearly had a heart attack :) They are ranked 63 on Opta stats.
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NorthStandExile added 08:17 - Aug 15

A few generous responses to Tedray, my reading is that he wandered into the wrong forum.
Let’s all remember our lack of homegrown talent is down to our academy and community being driven into the ground by an English owner.
From me there’s a thank you to those passionate (clever) Americans coming into the ITFC and investing a huge amount in our club, our community and our future.
I support the Ipswich if we’re down or if we’re up, I support the badge, I support the players on the pitch, if you cut me my blood runs blue…no ifs no buts.

Ipswichbusiness added 08:49 - Aug 15 There is a rumour that we are interested in Derry Scherhant, a striker from SC Friedburg. I don’t know anything about him, but he doesn’t seem very prolific.
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Devereuxxx added 09:12 - Aug 15

Fairly sure there has been studies which show leagues which mandate a certain percentage of domestic players are generally lower quality and have no discernible impact on the performance of the national team, as you end up with players not at the requisite quality drafted into the league, dragging down the overall quality.

Makes no difference to me the nationality of our players. Hope the boys do well today and we learn a bit more about what we can expect next week.