Trump helicopter G7 landings force Brighton to scrap French pre-season camp

Brighton & Hove Albion have been forced to cancel a planned pre-season training camp in France after pitches earmarked for their use were badly damaged by helicopter landings carrying world leaders, including US president Donald Trump, during a recent G7 summit.

The Premier League club had arranged to base their main pre-season preparations at the Royal Resort complex near the Swiss border between 23 July and 1 August, using football facilities in the nearby town of Evian-les-Bains.

However, according to The Athletic, those pitches were turned into a temporary helicopter landing zone during the latest G7 meeting in mid-June, attended by figures such as Trump, UK prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron.

While the surfaces proved suitable for the demands of the visiting politicians’ aircraft, repeated helicopter movements left the grass badly scarred and unfit for elite football training.

Brighton send staff to inspect damaged pitches

Brighton only discovered the full extent of the damage when a delegation of club staff travelled to France to inspect the facilities ahead of the scheduled camp.

The inspection team found that, despite the summit having taken place several weeks earlier, the pitches had not recovered sufficiently and remained below the standards required for a top-flight pre-season programme.

Unhappy with the condition of the playing surfaces, Brighton concluded they could not proceed with the French camp as planned and formally cancelled the trip.

Friendly against Annecy called off

The decision to abandon the camp also led to the cancellation of a pre-season friendly that had been arranged against Annecy, who play in France’s second tier.

Instead of travelling to France, Brighton chose to continue their build-up to the new campaign at their own training centre in Lancing on England’s south coast.

There, the club organised a behind-closed-doors friendly to maintain the team’s planned workload and ensure players did not miss out on valuable minutes after the late change of venue.

Club moves camp to Austria

Brighton will now travel to Austria on Sunday for an alternative overseas training camp.

The club has stressed that the disruption to their original plans will not affect their overall preparations for the coming season, with coaching staff confident the revised schedule will still provide sufficient training time and match practice.

Busy friendly schedule remains in place

Despite the changes to location, Brighton’s programme of pre-season fixtures remains intact.

They will begin their public warm-up matches by facing French side Strasbourg on 1 August.

The Premier League club are then set to meet Serie A pair Roma and Bologna on 8 and 15 August respectively, as part of what has been described as an intensive build-up before the new campaign gets under way.