Photo: Acabashi / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Tottenham Hotspur's pre-season fixture against Bundesliga side Hoffenheim on Saturday will be the 10th Men's First Team friendly staged at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since it opened, a run that has included pandemic lockdowns, a north London derby and Harry Kane's farewell.
The sequence began with a 1-1 draw against Inter Milan in August 2019 — settled by a penalty shoot-out — and has featured crowds ranging from zero during COVID-19 restrictions to a stadium-record 61,084 for last year's defeat to Bayern Munich.
The first match, an International Champions Cup tie on 4 August 2019, saw Lucas Moura put Spurs ahead after three minutes before Stefano Sensi levelled for Inter. The shoot-out ended 4-3 to the Italians, with Samir Handanovic denying both Christian Eriksen and Oliver Skipp.
Three behind-closed-doors friendlies followed in August 2020 as COVID restrictions made pre-season tours impossible. Spurs beat Ipswich Town 3-0, Reading 4-1 and Birmingham City 1-0 to prepare for the 2020/21 Premier League opener against Everton.
The 2021 edition carried significance off the pitch. In front of 25,000 fans on 8 August, Arsenal's Bukayo Saka received applause from Spurs supporters when he came on as a substitute — a gesture of solidarity following the racism he had suffered after Euro 2020. Heung-Min Son won the north london derby 1-0 with a 79th-minute finish from Gio Lo Celso's pass.
A mid-season fixture against OGC Nice on 21 December 2022 served as a warm-up for the resumption of the Premier League after the Qatar World Cup. Matt Doherty put Spurs ahead from Dejan Kulusevski's pass before Antoine Mendy equalised for the Ligue 1 side in a 1-1 draw watched by 9,173.
The most memorable stadium friendly to date came on 6 August 2023, when Ange Postecoglou's first home game doubled as Harry Kane's last in a Spurs shirt. Kane scored four times against Shakhtar Donetsk — his 280th and final Spurs goals across 435 appearances since his debut against Hearts in 2011 — before completing his move to Bayern Munich. Dane Scarlett also scored in a 5-1 win played as a fundraiser for Shakhtar's charitable foundation.
Kane returned to N17 a year later wearing Bayern colours. On 10 August 2024, he and Eric Dier — both honoured before kick-off by Club Ambassador Ledley King — featured for the German side in a 3-2 Bayern win. Kulusevski scored twice for Spurs but goals from Dayot Upamecano, Serge Gnabry and Thomas Müller were enough for Bayern in front of 61,084, the ground's highest pre-season attendance.