WEST Ham will be heading to the Orient this summer - but they will not be making the short trip to Leyton.

Instead the Hammers will be taking part in the Barclays Asia Trophy 2009, which has been organised by the Premier League, the Beijing Football Association (BFA) and Barclays, and takes place in China.

West Ham will play fellow Premier League sides Tottenham and Hull City and local team Beijing Guoan.

Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola has plenty of experience of the Workers Stadium, which will host the matches, having coached the Italian national team at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Working alongside Pierluigi Casiraghi, Zola's team played there in front of more than 50,000 fans at the quarter-final stage, only to be defeated 3-2 by Belgium.

Zola, who is looking forward to returning to China, said: "The Chinese people love football. I went there with the Italian Olympic team last year and it was clear they have a passion for the game. I was recognised by a lot of people and you could see that the Barclays Premier League is very popular over there.

"It is going to be an exciting experience for everyone and we are looking forward to going to Beijing. This pre-season, and the matches we will play in China, are going to be very important for us because it will allow us to prepare for the new season in the right way.

"The young players will gain more experience and it is going to help us to be stronger and improve on what we have achieved so far."

The Barclays Asia Trophy is one of the headline events at the inaugural 2009 Beijing International Football Festival. Now an established part of the Premier League's fixture calendar, the Barclays Asia Trophy has been staged in some of Asia's major cities - Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Hong Kong.

West Ham will play Tottenham on Wednesday, July 29 (11am GMT) before Hull City take on Beijing Guoan later that day. The two winners will then meet in the final on Friday, July 31 (11am). There will be a third place play-off between the two losing sides from the opening matches on the same day at 1.30pm.