Spain, Croatia and Switzerland Pick U.S. High Schools for 2026 World Cup Base Camps — Here’s Where They’re Training

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup less than 100 days away, Spain, Croatia and Switzerland have selected three U.S. high schools as their official base camps — placing Baylor School, Episcopal High School and San Diego Jewish Academy at the center of the global soccer spotlight.

The Spanish national team is to set up base camp at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee this summer during the 2026 World Cup. Mandatory Credit: Yukihito Taguchi-Imagn Images | Yukihito Taguchi-Imagn Images

We are less than 100 days away from the biggest sporting event in the world, and three separate American high schools are set to host three different European nations for the duration of the World Cup.

With the eyes of the world watching your every move this summer, finding the right location for your team's base camp is crucial to your morale and success. Therefore, each nation goes through a tedious process that can take over a year to find the right city for their national team. It might be a surprise to some, but Spain, Switzerland and Croatia each believe that selecting these high schools will be crucial to their teams success this summer.

Spain Will Call Chattanooga Home This Summer

The Baylor School officially announced on January 30 that Spain selected Baylor as their team base camp. Logistically, this makes sense for Spain as their first two group stage games of the 2026 World Cup will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity for Baylor and for the Chattanooga community,” Baylor Head of School Chris Angel said.

With this announcement, Baylor School is already a part of modern soccer history, but if Spain, who is currently ranked first in the FIFA Men's World Ranking, captures their second World Cup, Baylor and the Chattanooga community will forever be a part of World Cup history.

Virginia's Episcopal High School Set to Host Croatia

Unlike Spain, Croatia does not have the luxury of playing two group stage games in the same stadium, which might be a disadvantage. However, they do have one game in Philadelphia and another in Toronto. The location of Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia makes the traveling feasible during the tournament.

There is an added bonus for Croatia selecting Episcopal as their team base camp. It is also a boarding school which will give Croatia privacy away from the games.

After Croatia selected Alexandria as the site of their camp, WTOP News spoke to Dan O'Neill who is the director of auxiliary programs at Episcopal.

O'Neill told WTOP, "The private training environment is really important to these teams and being able to run their sessions in a private environment where they can really concentrate on the work they need to do."

Croatia's highest finish in the World Cup was in 2018 when it was the runner-up to France.

Switzerland Hopes to Shine Bright in Sunny California

Like the two aforementioned countries, part of Switzerland's decision making process in selecting the San Diego Jewish Academy was location. With two of the team's group stage games being played in California, and the third being played in Canada, San Diego was an easy choice for the Swiss.

Another key reason for the Swiss selecting SDJA is that the school's training facilities have been approved by FIFA.

The last reason the Swiss chose the Lions' campus is that it will give them a sense of privacy that they would not otherwise have in Los Angeles or San Francisco.

With the exception of Canada and Mexico, there are 13 remaining nations competing in this year's competition that have yet to announce the location of their base camp. If there is another high school that is selected as a base camp, High School on SI will follow with an update when the information is released.