Sunderland's pre-season schedule takes shape as opposition and kick off times in Portugal confirmed

Sunderland have confirmed that they well face La Liga side Sevilla in the first of their Portugal pre-season camp fixtures.

The Black Cats will face Sevilla on Saturday July 19th, with kick off now confirmed to be 8pm at the Estadio Algarve. The news follows confirmation that the club will face Sporting Lisbon in the second of their games at the ground, and that game is now also confirmed to be an 8pm kick off.

Sunderland's pre-season schedule is now largely in place, with the trip to Portugal following the now traditional double header at Gateshead and South Shields. The Black Cats will then travel to Tynecastle for Craig Gordon's testimonial, before fixtures against Hull City and Real Betis. The club had previously said that they were in discussions to complete their pre-season preparations in the weekend before the Premier League campaign begins, but there has of yet been no confirmation of any additional fixtures.

Sunderland's pre-season schedule

12/07 – Gateshead, Gateshead International Stadium (12:30)

12/07 – South Shields, 1st Cloud Arena (16:00)

19/07 – Sevilla FC, Estádio Algarve (20:00)

21/07 – Sporting CP, Estádio Algarve (20:00)

26/07 – Heart of Midlothian, Tynecastle Park (15:00)

29/07 – Hull City, MKM Stadium (19:45)

02/08 – Real Betis, Stadium of Light (15:00)

Sunderland season tickets go back on sale

Meanwhile, a 'limited' number of season tickets have gone on sale to Sunderland supporters this morning.

After the conclusion of the earlybird sale period and following the club's promotion back to the top tier, season tickets are now available again. With significant demand expected, fans have been urged to move fast to secure their place for a campaign of Premier League football.

The new pricing structure offers a sharp increase following the club's promotion, with the cheapest available adult season ticket costing £590 - working out at just over £30 per Premier League fixture. Adult prices rise to £690 and £780 in other sections of the ground, though as ever there is significant concession pricing in place. Thousands of fans were in the queue when tickets went on sale at 10am this morning, indicating significant demand to watch Sunderland back at the highest level. Over 30,000 fans bought season cards in the initial phase, meaning availability in general sale is limited.

The sales will be through the club's new ticketing platform SeatGeek, who have taken over from ticketmaster. Fans need to activate their SeatGeek account before purchasing, with the club issuing the following advice this week: "Fans that have purchased a ticket or season ticket during 2022-23, 2023-24 or 2024-25 need to now take one simple action to activate their SeatGeek account. Simply log in using your existing customer number and reset your password. A reset link will be sent to the email address linked to that customer number."

Fans whose account has been inactive for more than three years have been warned that their account will not migrate from ticketmaster, and that they will have to set up a new account.