Seattle usually has its fair share of soccer going on during the summer, with both the Seattle Sounders and Seattle Reign FC’s seasons lasting through June, July, and August. However, this upcoming summer could be a Seattle soccer fan’s dream, as six of the FIFA Club World Cup games are being hosted at Lumen Field.
The FIFA Club World Cup takes the best clubs from across the globe and matches them up with each other. All of the games are being hosted in the United States this summer for the first edition. The tournament will host 32 of the most successful club teams from 6 continental confederations (AFC, CAF, Concacaf, CONMEBOL, OFC, and UEFA). Clubs qualified as being the champions of their confederation or being highly ranked in their confederation. The host nation is also given a slot for a club of their choice. “It’s really cool to see our local Seattle team play world-class teams that are some of the best clubs in the world and have some of the world’s best talents,” Hadden Brown said.
The Seattle Sounders are one of two MLS teams in the tournament, the other team being Inter Miami CF. The Sounders qualified by winning the Concacaf championship in 2022, and Inter Miami was chosen as the host nation’s slot. The Sounders are guaranteed three group stage games hosted at Lumen Field, in which they will be competing against Botafogo (from Brazil), Atlético Madrid (from Spain), and PSG (from France). Lumen Field will also host 3 other games featuring CA River Plate (from Argentina), Urawa Reds (from Japan), and FC Internazionale (from Italy).
Although these games will be a good watch for any soccer fan, hardcore Sounders fans may be disappointed with the results of these games. Although anything could happen, the odds are pretty stacked against the Sounders. With the MLS being relatively young and less competitive compared to the other club organizations, neither of the two MLS teams in the tournament is expected to go very far. “The teams in the group that the Sounders are playing are all in very good form and are overall better organizations with much larger budgets, I don’t think the Sounders will even score. The games will still be fun to watch. All the teams they are playing are coming with really big fan groups,” Mr. Casagrande said.