The New Zealand Men’s National Football Team Monday announced it has selected San Diego as its home base during this summer’s FIFA World Cup, held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The All Whites will train at University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium and will stay in a hotel nearby during the month-long event. Every team participating in the tournament will be based in one city and travel as needed for group stage and knockout games.

New Zealand will kick off its World Cup by driving two hours up Interstate 5 to play the Islamic Republic of Iran in Los Angeles on June 16.

The other two group stage games for the All Whites are scheduled in Vancouver, Canada, against Egypt on June 22 and Belgium on June 27.

“Selecting our base camp is a really important part of our preparation for the tournament so we can make sure the team is in the best place possible on and off the pitch,” New Zealand’s manager Darren Bazeley said. “San Diego offers a great combination of the criteria we were looking for, from a really high-quality training pitch at Torero Stadium, to an ideal hotel for the team.

“We look forward to working with the city over the next few months to really get to know the place and hope to have all 1.4 million San Diegans taking us on as their second team.”

San Diego and New Zealand have a history together, as the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron won the 1995 America’s Cup in the city, and the nation’s powerhouse rugby team, the All Blacks, beat Fiji 47-5 in Snapdragon Stadium in 2024.

New Zealand has earned bids to the World Cup twice before, in 1982 and 2010. Their debut tournament featured three losses to Brazil, the Soviet Union and Scotland. In 2010 the All Whites earned three draws against Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay. The team failed to advance to knock-out stages in both tournaments.

Alongside the Kiwis’ three guaranteed games in the 2026 World Cup, the squad will play an international friendly against England in Florida on June 7. Another warm-up match is in the works, a spokesman for the team said Monday.

This month, New Zealand will face Finland and Chile at Eden Park in Auckland.