With just a few months to go until the start of the 2026 World Cup, England will soon be travelling to the USA to begin a campaign that sees them as one of the favourites to lift the trophy for the first time since 1966.
If Thomas Tuchel and the FA are to deliver the first senior men’s trophy in 60 years, they will need perfect preparation and the ideal base to give them the ‘home away from home’ feeling that is deemed key to success.
This year, that will be at the Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Missouri. Based in the central part of the country, it offers England easy access to their three group matches in Dallas, Boston and New York-New Jersey, with minimal travel time vital across the vast United States, who are co-hosts alongside Mexico and Canada.
Kansas City has a rich sporting pedigree too. Perhaps best known for their NFL team, the Kansas City Chiefs, the city is also dubbed the ‘home of soccer in the US’, having two football teams – MLS team Sporting Kansas City and NWSL side the Kansas City Current. Along with their baseball team, the Kansas City Royals, the city is often abuzz with sports fans.
And while there has been huge sporting success in Kansas City, hosting England’s training base for the World Cup has been earmarked as a “historic moment” by the city’s mayor, Quinton Lucas.
He offered an insight into what the Three Lions can expect from Kansas City and Swope Soccer Village, exclusively telling Sky Sports: “I’m thrilled to host England. I have been to England a few times, so I’ve gotten to know the passion of English fans, but I think I’ll learn a lot more in this engagement.
England will be based on Swope Soccer Village, which is one of Sporting Kansas City’s training facilities
“The choice of Swope was an inspired one for a few different reasons. First of all, the history of the park. When we brought the Kansas City Chiefs here, that was the first place that they practised and trained so it has had some history in American sports lore for a number of years.
“When our soccer team came, they trained there and then about a decade and a half ago, we decided that it was going to be vital that we invest in better field opportunities there. Some of it was to ensure we had great training grounds for visiting teams, but it was also to ensure that we had great practice facilities for youth soccer in the United States.
“It is in the middle of a park, which makes it somewhat remote. You get some level of privacy, unless people take over every street possible and 50,000 fans converge on the space!
“In the park itself too, there’s two golf courses nearby. You have swimming facilities and some other things in the area that allow for relaxation and other creature comforts.
“You end up getting a chance to really take over a whole part of our community on the southern edge of Kansas City and that is something that will be helpful for them.
“It is not in the middle of the busiest part of the city, it’s not in the middle of any crowds or in the middle of a lot of distractions.”
While there may not be too many people in the immediate vicinity, Mayor Lucas pointed towards the positive impact England’s presence will have on the local population.
He added: “The World Cup comes at a time where there are all types of discussions on diversity in America and how we all get along.
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Rob Dorsett and Pete Smith take a closer look at Thomas Tuchel’s latest England squad and how it may eventually look heading to the World Cup this summer
“The village is an example of America at its best. It is in the Black American community of Kansas City and an area that can always use more investment – England training here is probably one of the greatest historical moments in the history of the east side of Kansas City.
“Although the Football Association may not have known the impact it could be having, what we’ve been trying to tell to communities of Black Kansas Citians, Latino Kansas Citians, lots of others, is that this isn’t just about fancy matches at the football stadium, seven miles outside of the core of our city – it’s instead about all of you.
“So what England are actually bringing is a great connection to lots in the community and that’s why I am so excited.
“I love and respect every team that is with us, but I grew up in Swope Park. More than anything, this will be such a historic moment for our city. To say we got to host England is something that I never could have imagined as a boy growing up here in Kansas.”
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Sky Sports News’ senior reporter Rob Dorsett rounds up the best of Thomas Tuchel’s news conference as he names his squad to face Uruguay and Japan
How KC is preparing for the World Cup
England will not be the only team visiting Kansas City during the World Cup – Argentina, the Netherlands and Algeria will also have their bases in the city.
All three of these teams will play some of their group games at the Kansas City Stadium, which will host six matches in total, and Mayor Lucas wants visiting fans fans to embrace his home as theirs.
And while Kansas City is used to hosting large crowds, having so many people coming in and out of the city over a condensed time period will offer Mayor Lucas and his office new challenges and opportunities – including opening the city’s bars for 23 hours a day.
“One of the things is we’ve built outstanding transportation for the city,” he explained.
“In many cities in the United States, largely outside of New York and Boston, we don’t always have the best in public transportation set-up so it’s making sure that we spend probably tens of millions of dollars to ensure fans can get around better and it is an important part of what we’re doing.
“We’ve also enhanced our security and we have worked closely with The White House. This is probably one of the few areas in American politics where you really see a bipartisan consensus.
“I’m a Democrat and the White House has different folks, but I’ve worked very closely with them, the FIFA task force and their leadership, all the way up to the president. Everyone has interest in seeing how great this can be for a lot of our cities.
Lucas (right) holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy alongside Kanas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid
“The thing that will be interesting, and we’ll see how it goes, is we have changed the rules so that our bars and pubs and taverns are open 23 hours a day. That will be great for bar owners and I hope everyone behaves along with it.
“But we’re trying to make sure that for our guests, in some ways, they get to take over. We’ll be here, we’ll be enjoying it, but we want to make sure we hold the traditions.
“We know for our Dutch followers, the march to the match will be an important part of things. Algeria are here too so we’re learning a number of cultural customs to make sure we are ready for everyone.”
‘People have been pleasantly surprised with their visits’
People from across the world will be welcomed into Kansas City with open arms, a home away from home, but they will also want to experience everything the Missouri city has to offer.
Asked for his recommendations, Mayor Lucas replied: “The nerdy part of me would say that there is an outstanding World War I museum in Kansas City, the National World War I Museum for our country. That is a wonderful place to visit.
“The FIFA Fan Fest will actually be on the museum grounds so you can kill two birds with one stone. That will be a space of incredible fan engagement, activities for families and things like that.
“But also the bar and the music scene. A nickname that Kansas City has, which people don’t use a lot, is the ‘Paris of the Plains’. It is largely from the 1920s because a lot of people came here to celebrate. There were lots of cultural things in this part of the country and when you come here, you have a chance to get to see that.
“We’re not quite Las Vegas where what happens here, stays here, but you have a chance to have a great time at an affordable price in the middle of the country, accessible to everywhere else. I have seen a number of people be pleasantly surprised with their visits.”
