Toulouse Football Club, known as the Téfécé or the Violets, will host German side Hamburger SV on Saturday evening in its final friendly match before the new Ligue 1 season begins.
The match kicks off at 7 pm at the Stadium municipal. Toulouse will debut its new away kit for the game, hoping for a home win to sweep away the previous result.
Tickets for Saturday start at 9 euros in the Virage Taton and are free for Totjorn Mai pass subscribers.
The match is the final preparation for both teams. Toulouse opens its league campaign against Lyon in exactly one week at 8:45 pm.
Toulouse recently completed a six-day training camp in Murcia, Spain, which concluded with a severe but deceptive 4 to 0 defeat against Spanish side Elche last week. The training camp completed a 37-day preparation period.
An earlier report noted Toulouse had been unbeaten two weeks before the resumption of the league.
New Danish head coach Jens Berthel Askou has implemented a new system, changing the team from a three-player to a four-player defensive line. Askou said the formation is highly hybrid and depends on phases of possession, adding that everything changes whether the team has the ball or not.
Askou wants the team to play with high intensity for 90 minutes, all-around creativity, and aggressiveness to recover the ball. The Scandinavian coach's mark was evident in the first friendly on Saturday, July 25, a 1 to 1 draw against Ligue 2 neighbor Montauban RAF.
New Toulouse arrivals
New fullbacks Ismaïl Diallo, signed from National side Dijon, and Christ Tapé, signed from Danish second-division side AC Horsens, adapted quickly and are expected to start.
Eighteen-year-old Swedish left winger Sion Oppong arrived last week from Brommapojkarna. Observers call him a gem, and the number 11 is expected to play a few minutes in the second half. He could play more if teammate Gboho is still recovering from a dead leg.
Toulouse needs to find a midfield partner for Casseres as a number eight. Alexis Vossah and Dayann Methalie will be suspended for the Lyon match due to a rule enforcing an automatic one-match ban for five yellow cards accumulated at the end of the 2025-2026 season.
Toulouse is reportedly asking for 40 million euros for Methalie, who is being courted by several clubs.
Sauer, who has the most similar profile, the returning Francis, or the more offensive Saka could fill the midfield role.
Hamburger SV preparation
Hamburger SV, managed by Merlin Polzin, is also playing its fifth and final test match. The German side has one win, one draw, and two defeats in its friendlies. Hamburg drew 2 to 2 with the Lille Dogues last weekend in a match played over three 45-minute halves.
Other football news
A Ligue 2 player suffered multiple fractures after a violent collision during a match and will miss several months of competition.
Former pundit Gilles Favard made a racist comment calling former Marseille OM player Hiroki Sakai his favorite sushi seller.
In Ligue 3, a team arrived to face Cannes but had to wear their opponent's shirts, creating an unlikely scene that made the league laugh.
