FIFA selects Real Salt Lake facilities as World Cup 2026 training site for Bosnia and Herzegovina

Utah will play host to a FIFA World Cup 2026 training site for one international team. Photo: courtesy of FIFA

SANDY, Utah — Sandy has been selected as one of 25 communities across North America that will host a national team during the FIFA World Cup 2026 as a Team Base Camp training site, FIFA announced Monday.

Bosnia and Herzegovina will use Real Salt Lake’s facilities in Sandy and Herriman as their base during the group stage of the tournament, which begins June 11. The team will train at RSL’s stadium and practice facility while competing in Group B against Canada, Switzerland and Qatar.

Utah is not among the 16 cities hosting World Cup matches, but the base camp designation connects the state directly to the tournament. Sandy is the only location in the Intermountain West on the list of 25 non-host communities.

The 48 training sites span Canada, Mexico and the United States and will serve as each team’s home base throughout the group stage. Teams will use the sites for training, recovery and day-to-day preparation between matches.

Other non-host assignments include Spain in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Norway and Germany in Greensboro and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, respectively; Turkey in Mesa, Arizona; Ecuador in Columbus, Ohio; and Jordan in Portland, Oregon.

“Team Base Camps are an integral part of the fabric of any FIFA World Cup,” said Heimo Schirgi, chief operating officer of the FIFA World Cup 2026, in a statement. “They are where teams put down roots, train and recuperate, and experience the day-to-day rhythms of the tournament.”

Schirgi called the scale of the 2026 base camp footprint “unprecedented” and said it provides an opportunity to involve more communities and fans in the tournament.

FIFA said the selection process began in 2024, when a preliminary list of training sites was provided to prospective qualifiers. That list was refined through 2025, and teams began making their selections after the final draw in early December 2025, choosing from more than 60 options based in part on the geographic zones of their group stage matches.

Seven teams — Colombia, Iran, South Korea, Mexico, South Africa, Tunisia and Uruguay — will be based in Mexico. Canada and Panama will train in Canada. The remaining 39 teams will be located in the United States.

The 25 non-host communities are New Tecumseth in Canada; Cancun, Pachuca and Tijuana in Mexico; and Alexandria, Austin, Boca Raton, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Columbus, Goleta, Greenbrier, Greensboro, Irvine, Mesa, Nashville, Palm Beach Gardens, Portland, Renton, San Diego, Sandy, Santa Barbara, Spokane, Tampa and Winston-Salem in the United States.