Swansea City

Image source, Getty Images

Swansea City will face FC Koln in friendly on Wednesday, 24 July as part of a week-long pre-season training camp in Austria.

Luke Williams’ team will meet Koln, who were relegated from the Bundesliga last season, at Thermenstadion Bad Waltersdorf (15:00 BST), with the game open to supporters.

Swansea say they are hoping to arrange a second game during their stay in Austria, when they will be based near the town of Stegersbach.

The Welsh club have not announced any other pre-season fixtures.

Swansea begin new the Championship campaign with a trip to Middlesbrough on Saturday, 10 August.

Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

With no new signings on board and many of last season’s squad gone, numbers have been a little light during the first week of pre-season training at Swansea City.

Luke Williams will have fingers crossed that reinforcements will arrive soon.

The good news for Swansea’s head coach is that a move for South Korean winger or attacking midfielder Eom Ji-Sung looks close to being secured, while the Championship club are understood to be a fair way down the line on a couple of other potential deals.

The question of what comes next for Jamie Paterson, meanwhile, is still to be answered.

With his contract is up this summer, Paterson is now a free agent.

For the moment, the offer of a new Swansea deal remains on the table – but there is still no clear indication on whether the 32-year-old intends to extend his stay in Wales.

Paterson has scored 17 goals in 109 appearances since joining Swansea after his release by Bristol City in 2021.

Williams has made it clear he wants the attacking midfielder to be part of his squad in 2024-25, but whether he gets his wish remains to be seen.

The risk for Paterson in delaying his decision is that Swansea will look elsewhere, though the player is bound to have other options.

Intriguingly, Paterson posted pictures of what appeared to be a Charlotte FC game on social media on Thursday.

The MLS team are managed by ex-Aston Villa boss Dean Smith, who was Walsall manager when a young Paterson was given a first-team chance by the Saddlers more than a decade ago.

Image source, Getty Images

Swansea City first-team coach Kristian O’Leary is celebrating 30 years since he joined the club as a player.

Local lad O’Leary, 46, signed for the Swans as a teenager in 1994.

He would go on to make more than 300 senior appearances before leaving the club in 2010.

O’Leary returned as a coach in 2012, losing his job when manager Garry Monk was sacked in 2015 before rejoining the Swans’ staff in 2021.

“Thirty years ago today I walked through the Vetch Field gates as a YTS (youth training scheme player),” O’Leary wrote on social media., external

“Always an honour and privilege to represent this amazing club.”

Image source, Swansea City AFC

Swansea City Women have signed goalkeeper Charlie Haynes, subject to international clearance and Football Association of Wales (FAW) approval.

Haynes, 26, joins the Swans on a semi-professional contract following her time with Keynsham Town Ladies, and will formally join the club when the FAW’s player registration window opens on July 15.

Haynes is the first signing made by new manager Jamie Sherwood, who she previously worked with at Yeovil.

Haynes represented Great Britain in beach football at the 2019 World Beach Games in Doha.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Swansea City’s early-season south Wales derby meeting with Cardiff City has been put back 24 hours after being selected for live TV coverage.

Luke Williams' side had been due to host the Bluebirds on Saturday, 24 August, but the fixture will now be played on Sunday, 25 August, with a 15:00 BST kick-off.

The Swans’ home game against Bristol City has also been put back a day because it will be shown live on Sky Sports.

That match will now take place on Sunday, 29 September (15:00 BST).

As a result, Swansea’s trip to Sheffield United has also been put back 24 hours, meaning that will now take place on Wednesday, 2 October (19:45 BST).

Swansea start the new Championship campaign with a trip to Middlesbrough on Saturday, 10 August.

Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Getty Images

It is now almost two months since the 2023-24 Championship season ended and Swansea City are yet to add a new signing to their squad.

There have been plenty of departures, with Nathan Wood and Jerry Yates set to add to the list of players heading through the exit door.

They follow the six loan players who said farewell at the end of last season, plus the likes of Liam Walsh and Nathanael Ogbeta, who were released.

Prezmyslaw Placheta has also seen his contract expire – although Luke Williams has suggested the Polish winger may yet have a future in Wales – while Jamie Paterson is now a free agent having given no definite answer on whether he will sign the new deal offered by Swansea at the end of last season.

With Yates going and Jamal Lowe gone, Swansea will be without their joint leading scorers from the last campaign – they each contributed nine goals - come the opening day of 2024-25.

Paterson, whose Swans future is in serious doubt as things stand, was next in last term’s scoring charts with eight.

A squad which was already short on firepower, therefore, looks even lighter on attacking options now.

Of course, the departures mean there are plenty of holes in Williams’ squad.

It is not just in attack that Swansea look short. They are yet to replace goalkeeper Carl Rushworth, while Wood’s imminent move to Southampton means central defensive options are thin given that Bashir Humphreys is another who has already gone.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Williams is not overly blessed with resources at full-back, either, while a replacement for Walsh is needed in midfield.

The various vacancies mean an opportunity for another rebuild at Swansea.

After the mixed successes of the last summer transfer window, there is pressure on the club’s decision-makers to deliver this time around.

The suggestion is that new faces could start to arrive in the next few days, with a deal for forward Eom Ji-Sung, of K-League side Gwangju, in the pipeline.

The South Korean would be an intriguing addition, if something of a gamble given that he has never played in Europe before.

But Eom's arrival would only be the start.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Swansea City's players have officially returned for the start of their pre-season preparations.

And former Wales midfielder Joe Allen was among those reporting back for duty with 40 days to go until the opening weekend of the Championship.

Allen, 34, missed the end of the last campaign with a toe injury sustained in the Easter Monday home loss against QPR.

It prompted fears the playmaker would not return to a Swansea shirt with his contract due to expire.

But Allen agreed a new one-year deal in May and says his recovery went well.

Captain Matt Grimes and long-serving defender Kyle Naughton - another who has agreed new terms - were also among those pictured , externalreturning to the club's Fairwood training base.

It is the first full pre-season of Luke Williams' reign, with the former Notts County boss having already had players report for fitness testing and assessments during their summer breaks.

Swansea open the new season away to Middlesbrough on 10 August, but are due to confirm their pre-season fixtures.

As Swansea City prepare to play next season in a new kit inspired by their famous 1964 FA Cup run, here is footage of club legend Herbie Williams talking about that semi-final defeat to Preston North End.

In this 1975 interview with BBC Wales reporter Idwal Robling, Williams reflects on his 18-year playing career at the Vetch Field.

Image source, Getty Images

Swansea City will face Gillingham in the first round of the Carabao Cup.

The Swans have been drawn at home to the League Two side who finished 12th in the fourth-tier last season.

The teams last met in an FA Cup fourth-round fixture at the Swansea.com Stadium in January 2019.

Goals from Oli McBurnie, Barrie Mckay and Bersant Celina handed the Swans a 4-1 victory.

Carabao Cup first-round ties will be played in the week commencing August 12.

You can see the full draw here.

Image source, Swansea City AFC

Swansea City have released images of the new home kit which will be used for the 2024-25 season, inspired by the club's famous FA Cup run sixty years ago.

The orange trim on the white shirt pays homage to the club's run to the semi finals of the competition, where they lost to Preston North End in 1964.

The Swans beat Liverpool at Anfield during that cup run.

In addition to the new home shirts, the Championship side have reverted back to their former badge, first used in 1998, and a new black away strip.

Image source, Huw Evans

It is almost time for Swansea fans to start plotting journeys up and down the UK's motorway network as Luke Williams prepares for his first full season in charge.

The road ahead for the 2024-25 English Football League (EFL) season will become clear when the fixtures are released at 09:00 BST on Wednesday.

The regular season will begin on the weekend of 10-11 August and run until 3 May, 2025.

The 46 rounds of games in the Championship will be played across 33 weekends, nine midweek programmes and four bank holidays.

Swans fans will hope for a much better start than last season, when they failed to win any of their opening seven Championship matches under Michael Duff.

A 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on 23 September finally ended the long wait for a League win, followed by three victories in a row - something of a false dawn with an autumn dip in form leading to Duff's departure.

Williams eventually replaced Duff in January and led the Swans to a 14th-place finish after struggling to get the consistency he and the fans craved.

The former Notts County boss will hope to start the new campaign strongly after pledging to spend most of the summer at work, trying to bolster the squad rather than put his feet up and go on holiday.

Swansea will be joined in the Championship by relegated Premier League sides Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton along with promoted Portsmouth, Derby and Oxford.

The Wayne Rooney factor brings added intrigue - the England legend is back for his third spell managing in the EFL.

Rooney was appointed Plymouth Argyle boss after they narrowly avoided relegation last season and will hope to make a good start after his disastrous spell in charge of Birmingham City last season where he won just two of 15 matches.

All fixtures will be on the BBC Sport website and app as soon as they are announced.

The draw for the first round of the Carabao Cup will be held at 11:30 BST on Thursday.

A new £935m five-year deal between the EFL and Sky Sports means that 1,059 EFL matches are set to be broadcast - four times more than now.

Click here for more info on what to look out for in the Championship next season.

Image source, Getty Images

It is June and that means it is speculation season.

Notts County's star striker Macaulay Langstaff continues to be linked with Swansea City and a reunion with former boss Luke Williams.

It may just be online gossip at this stage but there is no doubt Williams has made no secret of his admiration for his former player, who has scored 70 league goals across his two seasons with the League Two side.

"This is the king of Meadow Lane we’re talking about," Williams said in his first ever Swansea press conference.

"I love Macca as a guy. As a football player he’s a goalscoring machine, but I want to make sure he’s there to help them get promoted."

But when he was asked if he would like to sign the 27-year-old, he replied: "That’s a different question."

Whether Williams would be able to tempt Langstaff to the Swansea.com stadium remains to be seen, with the player having signed a four year contract after helping the Magpies win promotion to League Two in 2023 and by his own admission it would take something "incredible" to leave Meadow Lane.