Uruguay Selects Playa del Carmen for 2026 FIFA World Cup Base Camp

The Uruguayan Football Association has confirmed that its men’s national soccer team will be based in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, in Mexico during the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

La Celeste (Sky Blues) will stay at the Fairmont Mayakoba during the tournament, while its training camp will be the Mayakoba Training Centre nearby. The hotel is located around 40 minutes away from Cancún Airport.

It was reported that Playa del Carmen was the first choice base for the association, ahead of Tampa; Atlanta; Boca Raton, Florida; and Austin, Texas.

Despite the fact that the team will have to fly between Mexico and the United States for its group stage matches, Playa del Carmen stood out as the number one base camp option due to its infrastructure, lodging facilities, logistical provisions, physical recovery setup, open spaces and elite working environment.

“After a comprehensive analysis, it (the base camp site) is the only one that matched all of the established criteri for the national team,” said the AUF in s press release.

The Uruguayan National Team will play its first two Group H matches in Miami against Saudi Arabia (June 15) and Cape Verde (June 21), before flying to Guadalajara in Mexico to face Spain (June 26) in the final group stage game.

FIFA World Cup Preparations

So far, the likes of Germany (Winston-Salem, North Carolina), France (Boston, Massachusetts), Spain (Chattanooga, Tennessee), Croatia (Alexandra, Virginia), South Korea (Guadalajara, Mexico) and Colombia (also Guadalajara) have also formally confirmed their World Cup base camps for this summer. 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 v South Africa on June 11 in Mexico City, with the final being held on July 19 in New York New Jersey.

Uruguay have won the men’s FIFA World Cup on two occasions, including the inaugural edition in 1930 and then in 1950. The country will host one match at the 2030 tournament as part of a centenary celebration to mark 100 years of the FIFA World Cup.