Yes, Cincinnati was not chosen as a host city for the FIFA World Cup in 2026 − nor was any city within 400 miles of southwest Ohio.
But never fear, soccer fans. Your favorite World Cup teams may still be coming to the Queen City.
FIFA released its online Team Base Camp brochure Wednesday for the prestigious soccer tournament, which lists 24 “high-grade” locations that could serve as “homes away from home” for the 48 participating teams.
Nine cities that are outside of the 16 selected host cities are included in that bunch and Cincinnati is among them. The other eight are Chattanooga, Green Bay, Irvine, Louisville, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Antonio and Westfield.
The chosen cities will serve as home bases where teams will eat, sleep and train in between their three group-stage matches. The locations of those three matches will help each team determine which Team Base Camp they choose, with travel and time zones playing huge roles in the decision-making.
“Even if a city is not staging matches, a participating team coming to stay creates a strong personal bond with the competition for people locally,” Heimo Schirgi, chief operating officer for the World Cup, said in a news release. “It will see them adopt their guests as a second team during the tournament, thereby connecting even more people to the FIFA World Cup.”
In addition to the 24 locations, FIFA also listed where the teams would be training at each Team Base Camp, as well as the hotels they’d be staying in. For Cincinnati, teams would train at FC Cincinnati’s Mercy Health Training Center in Milford. The hotel, however, has yet to be determined.
The Enquirer reached out to Julie Calvert, CEO and president of Visit Cincy, to ask if the tourism group is aware of Cincinnati’s candidacy as a Team Base Camp, but a phone call and voicemail were not immediately returned.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said, “Congratulations to Cincinnati for being selected as a base camp city for the 2026 @FIFAWorldCup!”
FIFA has also released an updated schedule of the World Cup, which shows the dates and locations of every match, but not the teams that will be playing. Participating teams will be determined once qualifying rounds have concluded.
After all 48 teams have qualified, they will be placed into groups of four during the Final Draw, slated for sometime in late 2025.
The World Cup will kick off with a match at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on June 11, 2026, and the final will be played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 11.
The closest city to Cincinnati where actual games will be played is Atlanta, Georgia, nearly a seven-hour drive away. Other (somewhat) nearby cities include Toronto, Kansas City and Philadelphia.
