Lawrence will welcome the Algerian men’s national soccer team, serving as its official base camp for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Lawrence 2026 announced in a press release Thursday that the North African team will use Lawrence as its home base for the World Cup. The Algerian national team will play in the fifth FIFA World Cup in its history, with its last appearance coming in 2026.
Algeria is one of four countries that will use the greater Kansas City area as their home base for the World Cup. The Netherlands, England and Argentina had previously announced their national teams will use facilities around the region during their stay in the tournament, which will take place from June 11 to July 19 across multiple cities in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Algeria is one of the four teams in Group J, which features the reigning World Cup winners Argentina, Austria and Jordan. Algeria is scheduled to play two matches at Arrowhead Stadium during the group stage: the first match against Argentina on June 16 at 8 p.m., and the final game of group stage play on June 27 at 9 p.m. In between those matches, Algeria will play against Jordan at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on June 22.
Lawrence had long been aiming to get a national team to choose the city as a base camp. As the Journal-World reported, Lawrence was included in FIFA’s official list as a potential base camp in June 2024, with plans that teams would train at the University of Kansas’s Rock Chalk Park and stay at the Oread Hotel, 1200 Oread Ave.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
