WILLEMSTAD (DA) — Group E’s four teams at the FIFA World Cup 2026 have placed their tournament hubs across the eastern United States, with Curaçao setting up in Boca Raton, Florida, as its base.
As Deporte Awe reported earlier, the team will stay at the Boca Raton Marriott at Boca Center and train at Florida Atlantic University.
In Chester, Pennsylvania, Ivory Coast chose Subaru Park and the WSFS Bank Sportsplex as its official base camp. Tim McDermott, president of the Philadelphia Union, said, “It’s truly exciting. We’re honored to be in that position.”
Meg Kane said the decision creates an opportunity tied to tourism and regional diaspora support, and added that the move to set up headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, is an opportunity to showcase the club and the Delaware Valley on the global stage. McDermott said five World Cup teams toured the facilities before Ivory Coast made its choice.
Ivory Coast is scheduled to play Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s opening match against Ecuador on June 14 and return there on June 25 against Curaçao.
In Columbus, Ohio, Ecuador will train at the OhioHealth Performance Center as its base camp. Issa Tall, the general manager of the Columbus Crew who played a significant role in developing the 42,000-square-foot training facility, said, “Our club, facilities and city are committed to providing Ecuador the top-class experience needed to successfully prepare for the World Cup. We look forward to welcoming them to their home away from home.”
In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Germany will lodge at The Graylyn Estate and train at Wake Forest University. Coach Julian Nagelsmann framed the decision around privacy and proximity, saying the training fields can be reached “on foot or by bike in less than ten minutes,” which he called “a decisive advantage” given the long travel built into the tournament.
Germany’s group-stage slate includes Curaçao on June 14 in Houston, Ivory Coast on June 20 in Toronto, and Ecuador on June 25 in New York New Jersey.
The through-line across the four choices is control. Each plan pairs a primary lodging setup with a dedicated training site designed to keep days predictable — the kind of repeatable routine teams lean on when matches move city to city.
The outliers show up in emphasis. Ivory Coast’s Chester pick leans heavily into pro-club infrastructure and the regional spotlight around its Philadelphia matches. Ecuador’s Columbus base stands out as a host-without-games setup — a tournament footprint built around preparation facilities rather than a match city. Germany is the most explicit about minimizing daily movement, while Curaçao’s Boca Raton choice reads as an operations-first hub: a single hotel-and-campus setup built to keep the Blue Wave’s off-field rhythm steady between matches.