Sounders to host Manchester United

Seattle Sounders FC will host Manchester United on July 20 at Qwest Field — the winners of a record 11 English Premier League titles and three European championships.

The Red Devils, as they are known, also will participate in its 2011 World Football Challenge as part of its five-game North American tour. They’ll clash with  FC Barcelona, Chicago Fire and New England Revolution, according to Major League Soccer.

Manchester United also will participate in the 2011 AT&T MLS All-Star Game on July 27 and take on the Sounders.

“Our fans deserve the best and we have provided a blockbuster match,” said Sounders FC majority owner Joe Roth. “Manchester United is perhaps the most popular team on the planet and certainly one of the most successful.”

Managed by Sir Alex Ferguson since 1986, Man United features a star-studded lineup led by forward Wayne Rooney, defender Rio Ferdinand–both members of the English National Team. Other accomplished internationals include:  Dimitar Berbatov, Nani, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Javier Hernandez (Chicharito) and legendary midfielder Ryan Giggs, the most decorated player in English history.

The match is part of the Sounders full 18-match season ticket package. In anticipation of the demand for tickets, seating at Qwest Field will be expanded to include the upper bowl.

The Red Devils will be making their third trip to Seattle. They met Scotland’s Celtic FC before a record Qwest Field crowd of 66,722 in 2003. In 1982 Man United faced the original North American Soccer League’s Sounders in the EuroPac Cup tournament, losing to Seattle, 3-0.

Manchester United has lost only three times in 30 matches and currently leads the EPL by five points. It won three consecutive titles from 2007 to 2009 and is aiming for a record 19th top division title.

The first English team to win a European championship, United added its third in the 2008 UEFA Champions League and later that year claimed the FIFA Club World Cup. Manchester United is now through to the quarterfinal stage of this season’s Champions League.  United has won a record FA Cups and has advanced to the semifinal round of this year’s tournament.