The Seattle Sounders are getting ready to play in the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time by getting ready in Marbella. After becoming the first MLS team to win the CONCACAF Champions League in 2022, the Sounders qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup. In the two-legged matchup, Seattle defeated Liga MX side Pumas UNAM 5-2 on aggregate.

In the second leg, Seattle defeated Pumas UNAM 3-0 at home in front of a record crowd of 68,741 at Lumen Field. The expedition left a snowy airport in Tacoma on Saturday and traveled to the Costa del Sol, which is on the south coast of Spain. There, the team will spend some time getting ready for the competition, which starts on February 1 in Morocco.

In Marbella, the MLS team will play two low-key friendly matches, one of which will be against Wolfsberger AC of Austria. On February 4, the Sounders begin their Club World Cup campaign in Tangiers, where they will face Al Ahly, based in Cairo, and Auckland City will face the winner of the opening match. In the Rabat semi-final on February 8, the winners of that second-round game will meet UEFA representatives Real Madrid. Seven teams will compete in the 2022 Club World Cup, which will be held from the 1^st to the 11^th of February.

The champions of each confederation’s top competition, Real Madrid, who won the Champions League, and Flamengo, who won the Copa Libertadores, are the clear favorites. The other five participating sides are: Auckland City (Oceania), Al Hilal (AFC) Seattle Sounders (CONCACAF), Wydad Casablanca (CAF), and Egypt’s Al Ahly as guests given that Wydad is the ‘host nation’ and also CAF Champions League winners. The competition is surely going to be tough this time around.