Brazil, Morocco, Senegal, and Haiti have chosen New Jersey as the bases for their 2026 World Cup campaign, and it highlights the significance of the state in becoming one of the main centers of the tournament.
People involved in the planning confirmed to several sources that the four nations are going to make their training bases in the state, and the news is expected to be announced soon. This choice is going to make New Jersey one of the hottest states of all co-hosting countries – the USA, Canada, and Mexico – apart from Kansas City, which is going to be the home to several European and South American football titans.
Brazil’s five-time world champion team is going to train at the training center of Columbia Park, where MLS side New York Red Bulls are also based. This facility, which is equipped with all necessary technological facilities, has recently gone through a huge extension, and it is going to be very useful to the five-time champions as their games are going to be on the East Coast of the USA, where two games will be at MetLife Stadium, and the other two are going to be in cities such as Philadelphia and Miami.
The Moroccan team, which surprised everyone in the last World Cup and reached the semis of the competition for the first time ever, is going to use Pingry School as its training facility. This location has a great history since it was also used in the 1994 World Cup. The Haitian team is going to be based at Stockton University, which is based in Galloway, and Senegal will use Rutgers University as their training location, as two of their group matches are at MetLife Stadium.
This is a massive win for New Jersey, which will also be hosting the final on the 19th of July. The governor Mikie Sherrill has accepted this deal positively, and she declared that it is an ‘opportunity that occurs once in a generation’ to show the state to the whole world. There have also been disputes between the local authorities and FIFA regarding the rising transport costs due to fears that the price increase may damage the experience of the fans.
Despite these worries, all four teams based in New Jersey are going to make the economy of the state increase, but as the event is nearing, all eyes are going to be on how to organize everything correctly for the teams and the fans to feel good.
