CenturyLink Field - Soccer

Soccer

CenturyLink Field is also designed for soccer. The stadium meets FIFA sight line requirements and provides separate locker rooms for soccer teams. Camera locations were chosen for optimal television coverage of the sport. Numerous exhibition games have taken place at CenturyLink Field, including high-profile clubs such as Manchester United, Barcelona, Celtic, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Club América and Chivas de Guadalajara. These games have proved to be highly popular, and the first sell-out of 66,772 fans at CenturyLink Field was a soccer match between Manchester United and Celtic. National teams such as Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, and China have played exhibition games at the stadium. The artificial turf has been temporarily overlayed with grass for international matches.

Qwest Field was the site of the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup Group B opening round between the national teams of the United States, Costa Rica, Canada, and Cuba. Two matches of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup opening round were also played at the stadium on July 4, 2009. In the second match, the United States comfortably defeated Grenada, who were playing in their first major international competition, 4–0. The success of such tournaments has bolstered Seattle's bid to host games for other competitions, and CenturyLink Field was among the 58 facilities in the United States being considered for World Cup matches had the country hosted the tournament in 2018 or 2022. When discussing Seattle as a candidate, Sunil Gulati of the U.S. Soccer Federation called Qwest Field "a world-class facility." On November 22, 2009, Seattle was the site of the 14th annual MLS Cup between Real Salt Lake and the Los Angeles Galaxy, where Salt Lake won the Cup on penalty kicks (5–4) in front of 46,011. Qwest Field was the eighth stadium to host the event.