PHIL PARKINSON says he will 'utilise' the Carabao Cup first round tie as another friendly when Wrexham return from their pre-season tour to America.
The summer games start in Europe with a celebration of Wisła Kraków's 120th anniversary at the Synerise Arena Kraków on Saturday July 11 before facing Manchester United at Helsinki's iconic Olympic Stadium on Saturday July 18.
Wrexham will then be returning Stateside for the third time, and first since 2024, and will play against Liverpool, Leeds United and Sunderland.
The last match of the tour against Sunderland in Philadelphia is on Sunday August 2 while round one of the Carabao Cup will kick off the 2026-27 campaign from August 7-9.
The Championship season begins the following weekend and with the Reds returning from America a week before the cup tie, Parkinson says he will utilise his squad ahead of the first league fixture on August 14–16.
"The Carabao Cup game is going to be utilised as our last friendly," he said.
"That is not being disrespectful to the Carabao Cup but we are going to have to utilise that because of the travelling etc.
"I think everybody at the club is aware of that.
"We will only be coming back from America a week before that game and we will utilise that game to make sure that everybody has got the minutes ready for the league season.
"We will just assess everybody over in America and the most important thing is that we have got the right amount of minutes into peoples legs as we go into the season."
The other two games in America take place against Leeds on Saturday July 25 in Tampa and versus Liverpool on Wednesday July 29 in New York.
Parkinson, who led Wrexham to seventh place in the Championship this term and only two points away from the play-offs, is pleased with the pre-season schedule.
"We have been looking at the detail of the trips and it all looks really good at the moment in terms of the travel and the logistics of everything," he added.
"Going to Kraków is going to be a different experience for us.
"I have been to Kraków and it is a great city to visit.
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"And Helsinki, I met the Finnish guys who are promoting the game last week at Manchester United and they spoke to be about the excitement of the people in Helsinki and Finland in general to be hosting that game.
"Two really good fixtures to start us off and then we go to America.
"Everybody knows the games we have got over there so it is going to be a really interesting pre-season and one we are all looking forward to."
The Championship fixtures will be confirmed on Thursday June 25 at 12pm and the Carabao Cup first round draw takes place the same day.
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