Servette v West Ham United
Pre-season Match, Stade de Genève, Friday 8 July 2022, 6pm CEST
When & Where etc…
West Ham United kick-off their 2022/23 pre-season schedule with a fixture with Swiss Super League club Servette in Geneva on Friday evening.
The Hammers have spent the week training an hour down the south shore of Lake Geneva in the French spa town of Évian-les-Bains.
This game will be the first of seven to be played in the build-up to the start of the new campaign, which begins with the visit of Premier League champions Manchester City to London Stadium on Sunday 7 August.
Tickets…
Around 800 West Ham fans are expected to make the trip to Switzerland for Friday's game. You can find ticket information here, with all seats in an unreserved area in the East Stand at the Stade de Genève priced at £8.50.
For full ticketing details for our 2022/23 pre-season matches, click here.
How To Follow…
Supporters will be able to watch Friday's match live on our official YouTube and TikTok channels, whufc.com and our official mobile app. Don't forget, the game kicks-off at 5pm UK time!
Travel…
There are regular daily flights from London to Geneva with a variety of airlines, including British Airways and Easyjet. Once you have arrived at Geneva Airport, it's a very short and easy journey into the city centre.
Geneva Airport is located three miles to the north of the city and is easily reachable by public transport, with trains to the Gare Cornavin taking just six minutes, and buses taking about 20 minutes. Gare Cornavin is Geneva's main public transport hub, from where you can catch a tram or train to most areas of the city.
From Gare Cornavin, take tram 15 in the direction of 'Palettes' and get off at stop 'P+R Étoile'. From there it is a ten-minute walk to the stadium. An alternative is to take tram 12 in the direction of 'Palettes' and get off at 'Bachet-de-Pesay', from where it is a five-minute walk to the stadium.
From the city centre, you can also take bus 4, which will take you right outside the stadium.
If you hire a car, the stadium is located off the A1 motorway by taking the 'La Praille' exit and taking the Route des Jeunes. The address for the stadium is 16, route des Jeunes 1212 Grand-Lancy.
Matchday Information…
Only the East Stand will be open at the Stade de Genève on Friday evening.
Team News…
West Ham United will use the squad of players who have been training in Évian-les-Bains, meaning the Club's senior international players will not be involved against Servette.
The senior players who have been in France and are set to feature in David Moyes' squad are Łukasz Fabiański, Darren Randolph, Aaron Cresswell, Issa Diop, Kurt Zouma, Craig Dawson, Angelo Ogbonna, Arthur Masuaku, Manuel Lanzini, Saïd Benrahma and Michail Antonio.
Opposition…
Formed in 1890, Servette FC is the most-successful club in the history of Romandy, the French-speaking part of western Switzerland, having won the Swiss Championship on 17 occasions and Swiss Cup seven times.
The club's first official manager, appointed in 1919, was Englishman Teddy Duckworth, who had previously played for West Ham United in the 1903/04 season and later led Switzerland to the Silver medal at the 1924 Olympic Games.
Servette's most-recent title win was in 1998/99, meaning silverware and success has proved harder to come by in recent decades, and were relegated from the Super League in 2013. They returned to the Super League in 2019 and finished sixth last season under the management of former Switzerland defender Alain Geiger.
Among Servette's all-time greatest players were Switzerland forward Alexander Frei (pictured) and West Germany forward Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, while the club also produced current Switzerland midfielder Denis Zakaria.
Previous Meetings…
West Ham United visited Servette in July 1987, when John Lyall's side were beaten 3-1 by their Swiss hosts.
Tony Cottee was on target for the Hammers, for whom Ray Stewart, Alvin Martin, Liam Brady, Mark Ward, Frank McAvennie, Alan Dickens and Stewart Robson also started, and for whom a young Paul Ince appeared as a substitute.
A 4,500-strong crowd were present at Servette's previous home, the Stade de Charmilles, which was built in 1930 and hosted five matches during the 1954 FIFA World Cup finals.
Prior to that, West Ham welcomed Servette to the Boleyn Ground in April 1954, when the Irons ran out 5-1 winners in one of the earliest floodlit challenge matches played at the Hammers' former home.
