As part of their pre-season preparations for 2019/20, Borussia Dortmund will return to the USA between 15 and 20 July to play two friendlies against high-class opponents.

The first stop on the tour will be Seattle – the largest city in the northwest of the USA – where head coach Lucien Favre’s charges will go up against 2016 US champions Seattle Sounders on 17 July (kick-off: 19:30 local time; 04:30 German time). Having already squared off against fellow MLS club Los Angeles Galaxy – at present the best team in the United States in terms of points – last summer (1-1 draw), the clash with the Sounders will be the second time the Black & Yellows face a top club from the rapidly growing MLS.

Klopp: "It'd be great if both teams could win their fans a silver trophy"

That match-up will be followed by a reunion with Liverpool at an unusual venue two days later. BVB will take on the Reds at the campus of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana in what will be the first football match ever played in the history of the 77,000-capacity arena. The kick-off for that match in what will certainly be an electrifying atmosphere is 20:00 local time; 02:00 German time. Both BVB and LFC are currently involved in a title race in their respective countries. “Of course, it’d be great if both teams could win their fans a silver trophy,” said the current coach of the EPL leaders and former BVB boss Jürgen Klopp. In any case, both clubs are looking forward to another meeting, having previously met in Charlotte in the USA only last summer when BVB ran out 3-1 winners.

There were initially no plans for the Black & Yellows to go back across the Atlantic this summer. “It’s true that we’d initially been planning another trip to Asia this summer,” said BVB managing director Carsten Cramer. “But the two highly appealing games that have now been agreed in such fascinating venues and against such extraordinary opponents – a leading team in the USA and our long-term friends from Liverpool – forced us into a rethink and ultimately prompted us to decline all the other options we had on the table.”

Back to Asia in 2020 and 2021

“Nonetheless, it’s part of our philosophy to always travel to the same target market two years in a row when the possibility arises, in order to offer the local fans a continuous BVB presence and strengthen both friendships and partnerships with local sponsors. Following our successful debut tour last summer, which included four friendlies across the country – all the way from California to the East Coast – we would like to put in another Black & Yellow appearance that fosters an even closer emotional connection between Borussia Dortmund and its local fans.”

At the same time, Cramer reiterated “to our many fans all across Asia, who had been eagerly awaiting a reunion with the BVB team, that all of Borussia Dortmund’s plans were currently geared towards paying them another visit in the summer of 2020 and 2021”.

Both for the match against the Seattle Sounders and the clash with Liverpool, special ticket allocations will be made available to travelling BVB fans.