Nottingham Forest are to launch their programme of pre-season games against Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon.

The Reds will meet Sporting on Saturday, July 11 at the Estadio Municipal in the Portuguese holiday resort of Albufeira (provisional kick-off time 9pm local time).

And for manager Billy Davies it will be an early opportunity to run the rule over his squad's preparations for the start of the 2009-10 Championship campaign.

Sporting have won their national title on no fewer than 18 occasions and have lifted the Cup of Portugal 19 times.

This season they finished runners-up to Porto in the race for the league title and reached the last 16 of the Champions League, only to be crushed 12-1 on aggregate by Bayern Munich.

After playing Sporting, manager Davies and his squad will then transfer to a training camp where they will spend the next five days.

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