DOVER Athletic's pre-season preparations go Continental on Saturday when Whites cross the Channel to take on Calais RCU.

The match has a competitive edge with the teams playing for the Hoverspeed Challenge Trophy. Last year's first leg at Dover ended 2-2 with goals from Craig Wilkins and Tommy Tyne.

Calais are now in the fourth tier of French football, the Championnat France National, Groupe A, to give it its full title. It is one step below Championnat National, or Coca-Cola 1 in English. Given that it is regionalised four ways, the standard may be roughly equivalent to Conference Premier.

Calais rub shoulders in the 18-team division with the reserve sides of Paris St Germain, Lens, Auxerre and Lille, and enjoy local derbies against Dunkirk and Boulogne.

They are unlikely, however, to ever surpass their incredible achievement in 2000 of reaching the French Cup final, a well-documented triumph in which they played in front of a crowd of 80,000 at the Stade de France.

The game kicks off at 6pm French time (5pm UK time) and Whites' main sponsor, Hoverspeed, are organising the travel arrangements.

Fans, along with the team, will cross on the 2pm sailing (UK time), arriving in Calais one hour later. The action will get under way at 5.15pm with a game between two supporters' teams of 15 minutes each way.

Their Gallic connection is being cultivated by Whites and could even lead to some Calais players turning out for Dover this season, as Dover Athletic financial director Steve Cattermole explained: "The deal has been brokered by Trevor Bond, of Hoverspeed. It nearly happened last season when Calais thought that some of their players would benefit by playing in English football.

"In the event there were problems with getting clearance. There is the same amount of bureaucracy involved as if we were getting Patrick Vieira over here!"