Four World Cup teams have announced CA camps. Will any stay in the Bay Area?
At least four nations’ soccer teams have decided they’ll practice and lodge in California in the days and weeks leading up to their FIFA World Cup 2026 matches.
Australia, Austria, Switzerland and Qatar are each scheduled to play one of their three group stage matches in June at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, the site of last Sunday’s Super Bowl. Those four play their remaining two matches in varying combinations of Los Angeles, Seattle and Vancouver.
Australia’s Socceroos will train at the Oakland Roots and Soul Soccer Club complex in Alameda, the team announced Thursday afternoon. Austria and Qatar both elected to set up headquarters in Santa Barbara. Switzerland will be based in San Diego.
“We are delighted to call Oakland, Alameda, the San Francisco Bay Area and California home during the FIFA World Cup 2026. We look forward to forging close ties with the local community, both on and off the field,” Football Australia CEO Heather Garriock said in a statement.
Australia plays its first two matches in Vancouver and Seattle, respectively, before wrapping up the group stage June 25 in Santa Clara.
“There are many synergies between the city of Oakland, the broader San Francisco Bay Area and the Socceroos. We look forward to building a lasting partnership and enjoying the passionate backing of Oakland Roots and Soul, and the local community.”
Farther south in California, Austria will stay at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara and practice at UC Santa Barbara’s Harder Stadium ahead of their matches, the Austrian Consulate General in Los Angeles first announced last week on social media.
Qatar will stay in Santa Barbara and practice at Westmont College in nearby Montecito, the Qatar Football Association announced on X in late January.
Switzerland last month said its team will set up shop in San Diego, training at the San Diego Jewish Academy.
Switzerland and Qatar play each other at Levi’s Stadium at June 13, at noon.
2 more teams likely to set up in Northern CA
Jordan and Paraguay play two of their three group stage matches consecutively in Santa Clara and are therefore likely to set up somewhere in the Bay Area. Neither as of Thursday afternoon had publicly announced where they’ll stay and practice.
Jordan plays its first two matches at Levi’s Stadium, June 16 vs. Austria and June 22 vs. Algeria, before flying to Dallas to face Argentina on June 27.
Paraguay plays host U.S. in Los Angeles on June 12, then faces a yet-to-be-determined qualifier June 20 in Santa Clara and Austria on June 25. That qualifier will be either Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo, and will be decided in late March by a playoff tournament.
The qualifier will play exactly one group stage match in Santa Clara, as will Australia, Algeria, Austria, Switzerland and Qatar.
Algeria is expected to soon announce its base camp will be in the Kansas City area, The Kansas City Star reported Thursday.
Levi’s Stadium is scheduled to host one game in the knockout round, July 1. That’ll feature the winner of Group D — in which Team USA is the heavy favorite — and a third-place finisher from another group.
Team USA also hasn’t announced base camp venues, but it plays two of its three group stage matches in Los Angeles.
Where could teams stay in the Bay Area?
The World Cup this year is being hosted for the first time by North America, with Canada, the U.S. and Mexico sharing the honors and games being played at venues dotted across the continent’s major metropolitan areas.
FIFA released a brochure with 64 recommended base camps, each of them a tandem of a hotel and a training site, in or near those metro areas.
Teams aren’t required to choose from that list, though some have, including Qatar.
The brochure lists two suggested Bay Area base camps. One is in the East Bay, staying at Claremont Resort & Club in Berkeley and practicing at the Oakland Roots/Soul SC training facility in Alameda. The other is in the South Bay, lodging at Hilton’s Signia hotel in San Jose and practicing at San Jose State’s Spartan Soccer Complex just south of the university campus.
This story was originally published February 12, 2026 at 3:28 PM.
