Town will face sister club Fortuna Düsseldorf in a pre-season friendly on Saturday 27th July (KO 3pm) and as last year will hold a training camp in Austria ahead of their return to the Premier League.
The Blues previously faced Fortuna, who are currently third in 2.Bundesliga, in Germany in July 2015, the hosts winning 4-3, then again at the Interwetten Cup, also in Germany, four years later, with Town losing 4-1 in a 45-minute game on that occasion.
Fortuna fans have been a regular sight at January Portman Road games since 2006 with Blues supporters having also made the return trip with a group travelling this weekend to watch a game against Magdeburg.
Blues CEO Mark Ashton says there was much discussion about where pre-season would take place ahead of Town’s return to the Premier League.
"We debated pre-season, we debated whether we went to the US, whether we went further afield, but Austria worked really well for us again, so we’re going to be announcing the details on a pre-season trip to Austria,” he said.
"We are also going to announce a friendly against Fortuna Dusseldorf and I know that’s something the fans have talked about since we joined the football club, that is now agreed. That is locked in and will happen. But the core pre-season will be in Austria this summer.”
Last year, Town spent a week training at lower league Austrian club SC LAA’s facilities in Laa an der Thaya, north of Vienna before playing two friendlies on the same day, one against Slovakian top-flight side Spartak Trnava, which the Blues won 2-1, and the second against Flyeralarm Admira, which ended 2-2.
Later in the summer, Town returned to Austria to take part in and win the Innsbruck Cup where they played 60-minute games against Bundesliga teams RB Leipzig, which the Blues won 1-0, and SV Werder Bremen, which ended 1-1.