South Africa Announces FIFA World Cup Base Camp in Pachuca, Mexico

South Africa’s Men’s National Soccer Team has chosen a team base camp in Pachuca, Mexico, for the duration of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The South African Football Association (SAFA) announced that Bafana Bafana’s team base camp training site would be the Universidad del Futbol y Ciencias del Deporte in Pachuca and that the team would stay at Camino Real Pachuca Hotel, just outside the city, in between traveling to matches and training sessions. Both the training site and the hotel were included in FIFA’s original catalog of potential base camp options.

It was confirmed that the base camp location was chosen due to its high altitude, at an estimated 2,430 meters above sea level, ahead of South Africa’s opening match against Mexico in Mexico City, which is 2,240m above sea level. It is expected that the team will travel out to Mexico by the start of June to allow maximum time to acclimatize to the altitude levels.

The team’s university training site’s facilities include two football pitches, a high-performance gym and access to a FIFA-certified Center of Medical Excellence.

Manager Hugo Broos said that he was “happy” to be based so close to Mexico City in preparation for South Africa’s (and the tournament’s) opening match on June 11.

A number of soccer matches were recently cancelled in Mexico after the killing of high-profile Mexican drug lord Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho”, close to the 2026 FIFA World Cup host city of Guadalajara led to cartel violence in at least 20 states across the country. However, FIFA officials said at the time that they were not concerned about the turn of events as relates to the hosting of the tournament in June.

South Africa will take their place in Group A, beginning at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City against co-hosts Mexico. They will then head to Atlanta to face a UEFA Play-Off Path winner (either Denmark, North Macedonia, Czechia or Republic of Ireland) on June 18 before traveling to Monterrey in Mexico for their final match against South Korea on June 24.

FIFA World Cup Preparations

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 on Mexico City, with the final being held on July 19 in New York New Jersey.