England could be forced to deal with a major inconvenience at the World Cup due to an expected decision from FIFA.
As 2025 comes to an end, football fans can start looking ahead to an exciting 2026 that will see the return of the biggest competition in the sport, the World Cup.
Ahead of the 2026 World Cup, set to be hosted by the United States of America, Mexico and Canada, the official draw was held in the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC.
England were drawn in Group L, where they will face Croatia in a repeat of the 2018 World Cup semi-final, as well as Panama and Ghana.
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But before their opening match against Croatia on 17 June, England could be forced to deal with a massive disadvantage should FIFA follow through with an expected decision.
Long before the beginning of the tournament next summer, England manager Thomas Tuchel cleared an FA plan for his side to have their training base for thew World Cup Kansas after a pre-tournament training camp in Fort Lauderdale.
However, it is looking like England may have to settle for a different training camp as it is now expected that Tuchel will lose his preferred site, Sporting Kansas City, a high-performance centre used by US Soccer.
That is because FIFA are likely to give Netherlands first refusal on Sporting KC simply due to geographical proximity.
The Netherlands play their group games in Kansas and two cities in Texas, Houston and Arlington, while England’s group fixtures will take place in Dallas, Boston and New Jersey.
If more than one nation puts in a request to be based from a certain training facility then FIFA will allocate them based on geography and world rankings.
Therefore, it is expected that The Netherlands will be granted first refusal to use Sporting KC as their base for the World Cup.
Should Ronald Koeman's side turn down the training camp then England could yet face competition from World Champions Argentina, who will play their group matches in Kansas and Arlington.
With this in mind, the FA have reportedly sent scouts to the USA staff to scout for alternative training camps, with several options on the east coast all in consideration.
Regardless of where their base camp is established, England have the eighth most difficult group stage draw in terms of travel.
Should they win Group L as expected and make it to the knockout stages, England will play a last-32 game in Atlanta before a last-16 tie in Mexico City.
It is believed that the FA may yet decide to simply travel from from match to match, something the FIFA has encouraged.
Should they do so, it would mark a departure from its usual practice in major tournaments.
Topics: England, FIFA, Netherlands, Football, Thomas Tuchel
Ben McCrum