Sounders will begin play on June 15 against Botafogo.
The Seattle Sounders learned the dates of their Club World Cup group stage matches as well as who else will be playing games at Lumen Field when FIFA released the event’s full schedule on Saturday.
The Sounders will open against Brazil’s Botafogo on June 15 (7 PM), face Spanish giant Atletico Madrid on June 19 (3 PM) and close out the group against French powerhouse Paris St.-Germain on June 23 (Noon).
“It’s an incredibly challenging group from a soccer perspective,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer told FIFA.com. “But if I look at it from my lens as a soccer fan, a guy who grew up in Seattle, I think it’s unbelievable.”
Group E will also use Lumen Field as its second base; conversely the non-Sounders games from Group B will be played at the Rose Bowl. That means Seattle will host River Plate-Urawa Red Diamond (June 17 at noon), Inter Milan-Urawa (June 21 at noon) and Inter-River (June 25 at 6 PM). CF Monterrey, the other team from Group B, will play all three of its games at the Rose Bowl.
Tickets will go on sale on Dec. 19 at 7 AM through FIFA, though the Sounders have told season-ticket members that they’ll have priority access.
After the group stage, the tournament will move entirely to the East Coast.
If the Sounders manage to advance out of this “Group of Death”, they will be paired with teams from Group A that consists of Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly and Inter Miami. The 1A vs. 2B Round of 16 matches will be played at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on June 28 and the 2A vs. 1B match will be at Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Field on June 29.
