With its World Cup group-stage matches on the West Coast, the U.S. national team has selected a municipal facility in Orange County, California, as its training base this summer.
Mauricio Pochettino’s 26-man squad will use Championship Soccer Stadium and the adjacent facilities at Great Park Sports Complex in Irvine starting June 7, the city announced Tuesday.
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The Americans will begin Group D play June 12 against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Greater Los Angeles — about 45 miles north of base camp — and resume workouts in Irvine ahead of the June 19 match against Australia in Seattle. The group finale is back at SoFi Stadium on June 25 against a playoff team to be determined this month.
The U.S. Soccer Federation long planned to train at Crawford Field, on the UC Irvine campus, but changed course late in the process, per multiple sources. The reason was not immediately clear.
“The facilities are simply outstanding and will provide the perfect training environment for our team to prepare to be successful at the World Cup,” USSF sporting director Matt Crocker, in a written statement, said of Great Park.
The U.S. men’s national team will set up camp in Irvine, California, ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
(John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF via Getty Images)
The team hotel was not disclosed, but according to the World Cup base camp brochure, FIFA’s designated properties in the area are a Marriott in Irvine and the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel, an oceanside resort 20 miles from the training venue. Teams also had the option of ignoring FIFA suggestions and selecting their own hotel.
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In 1994, the last time the World Cup was staged in North America, the U.S. trained in Mission Viejo, California, and stayed at a high-end resort in Dana Point, three miles down the coast from Laguna Niguel.
Sitting on a former Marine Corps Air Station, Great Park Sports Complex opened in 2017 and features the 5,000-seat soccer stadium, home to Orange County SC, which competes in the second-division USL Championship.
The park includes 24 soccer fields — the U.S. team typically uses multiple fields during any training camp — plus numerous other athletic facilities and an ice arena where the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks practice. For charter flights to other World Cup cities, the U.S. has the option of using John Wayne Airport in Irvine.
Tuesday’s announcement comes after many other federations announced their base camps for the 48-team tournament, which will take place at 16 venues across the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
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Most teams are based in the U.S., including Argentina, England, Netherlands and Algeria in the Kansas City area; France in Greater Boston; Brazil in northern New Jersey; Germany in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Spain in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Teams will train at Major League Soccer and National Women’s Soccer League training centers, college campuses, municipal facilities and private schools.
Four years ago, when the World Cup was held in Qatar, the USSF selected a 20,000-seat stadium on the edge of Doha and stayed at a high-end hotel in the Persian Gulf.
The previous U.S. training bases this century were in Sao Paulo (2014), Pretoria, South Africa (2010), greater Hamburg, Germany (2006) and Seoul (2002).
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As part of the agreement between the USSF and Irvine, the Soccer Forward Foundation, the federation’s legacy and social-impact initiative, will provide a community-based coaching development program this spring.
U.S. training sessions are closed to the public. However, FIFA requires teams to host one limited community event during a team’s residency. Details for the U.S. session have yet to be determined.
“Hosting the U.S. men’s national team during the 2026 FIFA World Cup is a once-in-a-generation moment for the park and a proud milestone for our entire community,” Great Park Board chair William Go said in a statement.
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