Chelsea will face Seattle Sounders Football Club on Saturday 18 July as part of the squad's pre-season training this summer.

The game is to be televised live on ESPN2 and will be played during the Sounders' Major League Soccer season, which begins on 19 March when they face New York Red Bulls.

Chief executive Peter Kenyon said: 'We are delighted to be opening our pre-season preparations in Seattle. It is a fantastic city and we have great memories of our time there in the summer of 2004 which went on to be a great season for us.

'The Sounders will provide us with a real test and we are happy that a sporting city like Seattle now has its own new soccer franchise as it is important for the development of the game in the United States. We will be bringing a full strength squad so it should be a great game.'

The match will take place at Qwest Field stadium, which will be expanded to include the upper bowl for the fixture as tickets are expected to sell-out.

'This will be unlike any international game ever played in the Pacific Northwest,' said Sounders FC majority owner Joe Roth: 'Chelsea is one of the top clubs in the world, and they are playing the home team, our Sounders FC, backed by our loyal supporters. The atmosphere that afternoon will be incredible.'

This will be the Blues' second trip to Seattle since the turn of the century, following our trip to the American city during 2004, when we completed a 4-2 victory over Scottish side Celtic.

Before 2000, Chelsea fist toured Seattle in 1967, when we defeated a local amateur side 5-0 at the Memorial Stadium. Then, 10 years later in 1977, the Blues lost to the original North American Soccer League Sounders at the Kingdome, the final score in that friendly was 2-0.