West Ham United are set for the start of their first pre-season training camp in Germany, and there's plenty to look forward to.
The team board the flight on Saturday and will return to east London following the conclusion of their exciting match against Swiss Super League side Grasshopper Club Zürich on Saturday 19 July.
With just over a month until the Hammers’ opening Premier League fixture at Sunderland and two weeks until our Manchester United curtain-raiser in the Premier League Summer Series Tour of the United States, the time in Germany will allow our squad the opportunity to work hard and be put through their paces.
Ahead of our week-long camp in Germany, we look at some of the key talking points over the next seven days...
1. Preparations for the new campaign are already under way
The summer break for West Ham United’s players is over.
Having enjoyed a six-week summer break, where most of the squad had the opportunity to recharge their batteries, anticipation ahead of the 2025/26 season is already building, with our players now back at Rush Green for pre-season training.
Handshakes, embraces, and laughter once again filled the corridors and dining room at Rush Green this week as the squad shared stories from their respective off-seasons, with newlyweds Jarrod Bowen and Luis Guilherme returning to training as married men, following each of their weddings last month.
Graham Potter’s side finished off the 2024/25 campaign with a 3-1 away victory over Ipswich Town at Portman Road, and start the new campaign with a mouth-watering clash against newly-promoted Sunderland. They will want to hit the ground running, and that all starts here.
The players have been put through medical tests and have undertaken the brutal bleep test, while they’ve also had some time with the ball on the grass, and the excitement at balls being added to training could be heard ringing around the training ground.
Now, a trip to Germany beckons, proving an opportunity to step up our preparations for the return to competitive action next month.
2. Young Hammers hoping for chances to impress
A new Premier League season means there will be a clean slate for everyone to operate from, and our Academy of Football stars will have the chance to impress Potter and his backroom staff this pre-season - only having to look at shining example Ollie Scarles, who enjoyed a memorable breakthrough season, making 15 Premier League appearances in 2024/25.
Kaelan Casey, Freddie Potts, George Earthy and Callum Marshall have trained with the first-team on their return to Rush Green this week, having enjoyed extremely fruitful loan spells across the English football pyramid and Europe, while Lewis Orford, who was handed his Premier League debut against Crystal Palace at London Stadium in January, has also been involved with Potter’s squad.
This week represents a key opportunity for players to make their case for inclusion in the squad for the upcoming season. Whether it’s established stars getting back to full match fitness or younger talents looking to make an impression, our players will be eager to prove themselves, and these pre-season sessions and fixtures are pivotal.
3. New Kit!
The Hammers will debut our new kit in Zürich!
We will wear the 2025/26 BOYLE Sports kit during our pre-season fixture against Grasshopper Club Zürich, with the goalkeeper sporting a new all-green jersey also unveiled earlier this month.
The new Home Kit features a full Claret body with Blue detailing, while including a Claret and Blue striped rib V-collar and matching cuffs alongside the logos of our new Principal Partner, BOYLE Sports, and Sleeve Partner Intuit QuickBooks.
The 2025/26 shirt reinstates the full-colour Club crest, with the iconic Crossed Hammers detailed on the back of the neck, putting the finishing touches on a true modern classic in the making.
You can purchase the new Home Kit - and 2025/26 Umbro Training Range - now by heading to shop.whufc.com, shopping on our official mobile app, or visiting us at any of our Official Club Stores - London Stadium, Liberty Romford, Lakeside Thurrock or Basildon Eastgate, and our pop-up at John Lewis Chelmsford. Click here for full store details.
4. Kandolin's safe hands
Having joined the Club as a men’s first-team goalkeeper coach from Swedish club IF Elfsborg last week, West Ham’s pre-season training camp in the Black Forest of southern Germany will be a vital window for Linus Kandolin to get to know his new colleagues quickly.
Kandolin’s move to east London will see him team up again with Hammers Head Coach Potter, whom he worked for at Östersunds FK between 2015 and 2018, and during his time at IF Elfsborg, he was also on the coaching staff for the Sweden U21 national team.
The 34-year-old also helped develop current Brentford goalkeeper Hákon Valdimarsson, who joined the Bees in January 2024.
5. Two clubs hoping for more
In Grasshopper Club Zürich, West Ham will face one of the most successful football clubs in Switzerland for the first time.
Despite FC Basel and BSC Young Boys dominating the country’s footballing landscape, winning 18 of the last 22 Swiss Super League titles, with cross-city rivals FC Zürich winning the other four, Grasshopper still remains Switzerland’s most decorated club, having been Swiss champions 27 times (most recently in 2003) and won the Swiss Cup 19 times (most recently in 2013).
Since their title in 2003, there hasn’t been much for the Grasshopper fans to cheer about in what has arguably been the most difficult two decades in the club’s history, with the penalty shoot-out victory over FC Basel to win the Swiss Cup in 2013 a rare moment to savour.
Having won promotion back to the top-flight at the second attempt in 2021, after they were relegated to the second tier for the first time in seven decades amid financial difficulties in 2019, Grasshopper have flirted with Swiss Super League relegation, surviving back-to-back relegation play-offs against FC Thun and FC Aarau respectively in the previous two campaigns.
It’s a far cry from the heights of the 1990s, when Grasshoppers regularly hosted UEFA Champions League football, taking on Real Madrid and beating a star-studded Rangers side featuring Brian Laudrup and Paul Gascoigne, but our pre-season fixture at GC/Campus against opposition with a mix of different styles and tactics that we’re not used to coming up against regularly in the Premier League provides a very interesting challenge and plenty of novelty for the viewer.
