Ontario Base Camp Confirmed for Panama’s Men’s National Soccer Team at FIFA World Cup

Panama’s Men’s National Soccer Team has secured the Nottawasaga Training Center in New Tecumseth, Ontario in Canada as its base camp for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Nottawasaga Inn Resort and Conference Center will be the team’s hotel during the tournament, while the Nottawasaga Training Site next door will be its training facility. The base camp includes a resort hotel, training pitches, a meeting center, medical room, offices, gym, swimming pool and press conference room.

Miguel Zúñiga, secretary general of the Panamanian Football Federation, confirmed that it was the Federation’s first choice of base camp when it submitted its preferred options after the FIFA World Cup Final Draw in December.

“The option of being able to have our base camp near Toronto has big benefits for our national team, especially given our first two games are in Toronto,” said Zúñiga. “First, because it limits long distances that can affect the physical capacity of our players, and second because it facilitates all the logistics and operations around the national team. We are happy that this option has been finalized.”

“Logistically, it was the best option for Panama and that was the line we used in the draw,” said National Team Director Christian Núñez. “Having two games in Toronto guaranteed that the distances were going to be minimal, as we’re only going to move to New York in the first round and that was the most important thing.

“Also from a sporting perspective, of the 66 FIFA base camps, only four met the conditions that this camp has (the pitch and the hotel).”

Panama will begin its first two 2026 FIFA World Cup Group L matches in Toronto (against Ghana on June 17 and Croatia on June 23) before traveling to New York New Jersey to face England on June 27.

FIFA World Cup Preparations

Panama is the tenth qualified nation so far to confirm its base camp for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Previously, Germany (Winston-Salem, North Carolina), France (Boston, Massachusetts), Spain (Chattanooga, Tennessee), Croatia (Alexandra, Virginia), South Korea (Guadalajara, Mexico), Colombia (also Guadalajara), Uruguay (Playa del Carmen, Mexico), Saudi Arabia (Austin, Texas) and Curaçao (Boca Raton, Florida) had confirmed their training sites and hotels for the tournament.

Read the full list of confirmed base camps so far here.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, which has been expanded to 48 teams, will begin with Mexico vs. South Africa on June 11 in Mexico City, with the final being held on July 19 in New York New Jersey.