A base to call home: finding the perfect Socceroos World Cup camp is no easy feat | Joey Lynch
Home is where the heart is, or at least where there is a good brew and a comfy bed. And with the 2026 World Cup six months away, key Socceroo figures have spent several weeks deep in a process that often flies under the radar but could be a secret ingredient in their quest to do something special: finding their home away from home for the global footballing showpiece.Alongside the rest of the qualified nations, Australia submitted their preferred options for a North American base to Fifa earlier this week, with the governing body expected to assign base camps using a criterion of geography and world rankings by the end of January. Drawn to play games on the west coast, this means that Australia has 16 regionalised camps in the official Fifa brochure to consider. But they’ll also sit behind host nations the United States and Canada, as well as higher-ranked Switzerland, Belgium and Iran in the pecking order.Generally, all nations are led by similar principles when it comes to finding a base: the quality of the hotel and training facilities, the travel logistics, and the trade-offs between the two. For example, going off the brochure, the Socceroos could look to base themselves in the idyllic surroundings of Southern California, or nearby Tijuana, but this would be accompanied by at least a three-hour flight to their games in Vancouver and Seattle. Bases in Phoenix or Tucson would offer world-class facilities off the beaten track, but would also be buffeted by the fierce Arizonan heat.An out-of-the-way home such as Boise or Salt Lake City would offer serenity and just a short flight to games, but would bring the challenge of a different time zone. Options in San Jose and Oakland wouldn’t require a flight for the Socceroos’ third game in San Francisco, but like the Californian options are in the public eye – and likely in high demand. Vancouver, Seattle and Tacoma are also well located, but with Canada already swooping in on the British Columbia base, they will also be hot properties.View image in fullscreenThe Socceroos locked in their World Cup qualification after defeating Saudi Arabia in June. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images“I prefer being in a smaller city [when] away,” says assistant coach Hayden Foxe. “We would prefer more privacy, especially when it comes to the base camp, where we can just put our minds on the job we need to do. You need some moments away where you can then relax and switch off for a certain period. And the quieter places, the more relaxed places you’re able to do that, [compared with] something helter-skelter, where everything’s going on and it can be distracting.”For the detail-obsessed Tony Popovic, some locations are clearly going to line up with his preferences more than others. And that goes for other coaches too. South Korea’s Hong Myung-bo, for instance, whose side will play their group stage games in Mexico, has emphasised the need to find a base that will allow high-altitude adaptation, while Scotland boss, Steve Clarke, wants a training camp somewhere “hot, sticky and humid” before heading to the north-east. France want to be based in New York but would need to negotiate access to the training facilities of one of its two MLS sides, according to L’Equipe, and though England had earmarked the somewhat central Kansas City as their preferred landing spot, they now risk losing that site to the Netherlands.View image in fullscreenThe Socceroos flew barista Alexia Ralevski to the 2022 World Cup to ensure the coffee quality. Photograph: SocceroosInitially anticipating heading east or centrally, Socceroos and Football Australia staff spent December crisscrossing the west coast, with everything from training pitches and hotels right down to small details being exhaustively pored over. Quality of sleep and diet are two of Popovic’s most strident expectations, elite performance demanding elite preparation. This meant that things as small as the quality of the pillows in potential lodgings were looked at, as well as the what produce would be available to team chef, Vini Capovilla.With the Socceroos potentially six weeks or more in their base, creature comforts and the need to maintain good vibes are included, too. And coffee. The team flew in their own barista and beans for Qatar, and that the players are supplied with a list of quality roasters when they travel to a new city shows just how important caffeine is to morale. The heightened security and demands of a World Cup will prevent the same level of wanderingthey’re allowed on the road – Harry Souttar and Riley McGree bought cowboy hats in Dallas in 2023 – and staff are aware of the need to find a base where the squad can be at ease and minimise cabin fever.“The process is a lot,” Foxe says. “You have restrictions, what you can do, what hotels you can go to, what training facilities you can go to, what the budget of the team is, and where the players would prefer. Is it a bigger city or a smaller city? Is it altitude? What’s the time difference? How far is it to fly? What’s the culture of that city? Which one would suit you, as Australians?“There’s of lot of different details, and there’s a lot of groundwork. There’s a lot of travel, there’s a lot of looking, there’s a lot of meetings. We get everything crossed.”
