New Zealand's All Whites have chosen San Diego as their official team base camp for the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup. The team will train at the University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium and stay in a nearby hotel during the tournament. This setup allows for convenient travel to matches in Los Angeles and Vancouver.
New Zealand Football announced that the All Whites will establish their base in San Diego, Southern California, for the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup. The decision follows a prolonged search after the group draw in December 2024, which placed New Zealand in Group G on the West Coast. As one of the lower-ranked teams, the All Whites faced competition for preferred locations, but San Diego emerged as a top choice due to its facilities and atmosphere.
The team will train at Torero Stadium, a 6,000-capacity venue established in 1961 and refurbished multiple times. It has hosted MLS exhibition matches, games for the US national women's team, and was the former home of the San Diego Loyal in the USL second tier, as well as Major League Rugby events. A nearby hotel will serve as accommodations.
From San Diego, the All Whites will travel two hours by bus to their opening match against Iran on June 16, 2026 (NZT) at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Los Angeles. Their subsequent Group G games against Egypt on June 22 and Belgium on June 27, both at BC Place in Vancouver, Canada, require a three-hour flight.
All Whites head coach Darren Bazeley emphasized the importance of the base camp. “Selecting our base camp is a really important part of our preparation for the tournament, so we can make sure the team is in the best place possible on and off the pitch,” he said. “San Diego offers a great combination of the criteria we were looking for, from a really high-quality training pitch at Torero Stadium, to an ideal hotel for the team. We look forward to working with the city over the next few months to really get to know the place and hope to have all 1.4 million San Diegans taking us on as their second team.”
San Diego holds significance in New Zealand sports history as the site of Team New Zealand's first America's Cup victory in 1995, where they defeated Stars and Stripes 5-0.
Ahead of the tournament, the All Whites will play warm-up matches in Auckland as part of the FIFA Series: against Finland on March 27, 2026 (7pm NZT) and Chile on March 30 (7pm NZT) at Eden Park. They have confirmed a friendly against England on June 7 in South Florida, with a second US-based warm-up under exploration.
