Preparing the base camps and training sites for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and FIFA World Cup 26

AS THE TOP SOCCER PLAYERS in the world head to North America for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and FIFA World Cup 26, the pitch management team at FIFA has rigorously prepared training pitch locations for the team base camps and venue-specific training sites. The combined number of pitches for the upcoming tournaments will total more than 70 for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and more than 100 for FIFA World Cup 26. For insight into the preparation required for all of the sites, SportsField Management magazine recently spoke with Weston Appelfeller, CSFM, FIFA 26 senior manager, training pitch management.

All images courtesy of FIFA

SportsField Management ( SFM ): Please provide an overview of the base camps and training sites , as well as how you are preparing for something of this size and scope . Weston Appelfeller , CSFM : A team base camp is where a club [for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup] or a country [for FIFA World Cup 26] will train during the time that they're here. It will be their home base, and where they live for two weeks. The venue-specific training sites are where they will go on match day minus one. They will train for two or three weeks at their home base camp, and then they will rotate over to the venue-specific training site the day before the match, play the match, and then go back to their team base camp.

We also need to have 30% more of the team base camps for the clubs and countries to choose from. That's where we get somewhere in the range of 100 different sites that we are putting forth. To get those, however, we have evaluated more than 200 sites and what they offer in terms of grass, drainage, soil, equipment, staff, etc. All of those factors come into play as we put our best foot forward.

For a tournament that has 48 different countries playing in it, we need at least 48 of those. Add in the referee base camp, and you have 49. Then you have all the stadiums across three different countries, and each one of those needs to have one to two venue-specific training sites.