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The Southern Kings will play three Super Rugby friendlies early in the new year, even though they are not part of the competition next season.
EP Rugby CEO, Charl Crous announced on Tuesday that the Kings will play the Cheetahs on the 25th of January, the Lions on the 1st of February and the Stormers on the 7th of February.
All matches will be played at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and will help the Kings prepare for the Vodacom Cup.
Crous said they were talking to European clubs to help fill the fixture list in June and July because of the absence of Super Rugby - headed into the Currie Cup in August.
He confirmed that an expanded Currie Cup of 8-teams would be back on the agenda at a SARU special general meeting in Cape Town on the 6th of December.
A number of seasoned campaigners are missing from the initial squad of contracted players announced by the EP Kings for the 2014 season.
Director of Rugby Matt Sexton announced that either through retirement or a relocation to other teams, the Kings had bid farewell to Wayne van Heerden, Wayne Stevens, Boetie Britz, Marcello Sampson, Jaco Engels, Mpho Mbiyozo, Hannes Franklin and Ross Geldenhuys.
The squad does include the likes of Darron Nell, Devin Oosthuizen, Sergeal Petersen, Andries Strauss, Ronnie Cooke, Steven Sykes and Luke Watson.
The two new signings are both from the Leopards in scrumhalf Jaco Grobler and loose head prop BG Uys.
Sexton said they'd resisted the temptation to chase name-players at this stage - and that a number of players would focus their efforts initially on the NMMU Madibaz squad for the Varsity Cup.
