Preview: Basel v Wolves
Wolves begin their pre-season friendly campaign against Basel in Switzerland on Tuesday evening.
Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers looks ahead to the game.
Lowdown
A first pre-season fixture of the summer for Nuno Espirito Santo's team – and it's a decent one to start with.
Basel are the opposition in the Uhrencup – which translates as Clock Cup, not much of a surprise for a tournament in Switzerland.
The competition is in a group stage format, two games each, with Young Boys (Wolves' opponents on Saturday) and Feyenoord also involved.
If there's a draw then teams play a penalty shoot-out for a bonus point and there even a trophy on offer...
Stoke City won it last year, which proves that success in pre-season doesn't necessarily translate to a successful league campaign.
But Wolves, as they did against Werder Bremen a year ago when Nuno's dream was in its infancy, will want to get off to a winning start and try and garner some momentum.
As Kortney Hause said yesterday: "Even though it's a friendly we want to win. Winning breeds winning and everything feels better when you win."
Team news
Wolves have brought a squad of 24 with them to Switzerland (it will be 25 when the delayed Bright Enobakhare has sorted his visa).
If Nuno goes 'first choice' from his tried and tested Championship winning squad then it almost picks itself...Ruddy; Bennett, Coady, Boly; Doherty, Neves, Gibbs-White, Douglas; Costa, Jota, Cavaleiro.
Leo Bonatini and Danny Batth will both be keen to muscle their way into that XI, while Kortney Hause, Roderick Miranda, Will Norris and Rafa Mir are the other seniors in the squad.
None of Rui Patricio, Raul Jimenez, Romain Saiss and Ruben Vinagre will be involved as they're on a break after their international call-ups this summer.
Left-sided defender Cameron John is expected to provide back-up to Barry Douglas at left wing back in Nuno's usual 3-4-3 formation.
Goalkeepers: John Ruddy, Will Norris, Andreas Sondergaard
Defenders: Willy Boly, Conor Coady, Danny Batth, Roderick Miranda, Ryan Bennett, Kortney Hause
Wing backs: Matt Doherty, Barry Douglas, Oskar Buur Rasmussen, Cameron John
Midfielders: Ruben Neves, Morgan Gibbs-White, Pedro Goncalves, Elliott Watt
Forwards: Diogo Jota, Ivan Cavaleiro, Helder Costa, Leo Bonatini, Rafa Mir, Benny Ashley-Seal, Ryan Giles
Basel's brush with fate
Basel have reached the Champions League group stages in six of the past 10 seasons as well as a Europa League semi final (2013) and quarter final (2014).
Last season they saw off CSKA Moscow and Benfica to join Manchester United in the last 16, but were knocked out by Pep Guardiola's Manchester City 5-2 on aggregate, winning 2-1 at the Etihad after being thumped 4-0 at home in the first leg.
Domestically they suffered a surprisingly poor campaign, finishing 15 points behind champions Young Boys (who Wolves face on Saturday) in second place and ending a run of eight consecutive Swiss Super League titles.
Wolves can expect a tough test, not least because Basel should be well ahead in terms of their preparations for the Swiss league season, which kicks off on July 21. They also face a Champions League qualifying tie against Greek side PAOK on July 24.
The most famous name in their squad is probably ex-Norwich striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel who bombed in the Premier League (one goal in 25) but netted 10 in 19 in the league last season.
Serbian international midfielder Zdravko Kuzmanovic used to play for Inter Milan, while manager Raphael Wicky played 75 times for Switzerland.
Location
As well as football, the Tissot Arena in Biel-Bienne hosts ice hockey, ice skating and curling.
Its capacity is around 5,000 and it's a four-sided stadium with modern facilities, home to Swiss lower league outfit FC Biel-Bienne.
How to keep track
The Express & Star will be carrying live tweets from Tim Spiers and Nathan Judah through the game, plus there'll be a detailed match report and the usual post-match reaction and analysis.
The game is available to watch on Wolves TV for the sum of five English pounds.
And for anyone in Switzerland there are tickets on the door at the Tissot Arena.
Kick off is 6pm Swiss time or 5pm BST.
