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The Nottawasaga Resort in New Tecumseth is the only FIFA team basecamp in Ontario for the 2026 edition of the tournament. Arisa Valyear/The Globe and Mail
In May, FIFA announced where the 48 participating teams would be staying – and training – for the weeks-long soccer tournament. Split between the three host countries, 39 teams set up shop in the U.S., while Mexico claimed seven teams and Canada only two. Canada’s national team would reside in Vancouver, at the National Soccer Development Centre, and team Panama would settle into the rolling hills of New Tecumseth, Ont., at the roughly 230-hectare Nottawasaga Resort , about an hour north of Toronto.
Some 44,000 people call the town home. It’s by no means Ontario’s smallest, but New Tecumseth’s mid-sized population, sprawling farm fields, and charming local flair feel quaint in comparison to bustling Toronto’s three million, or even neighbouring Vaughan’s 345,000 residents. “This is probably the largest event that’s ever happened here in terms of sports and recreation,” said New Tecumseth Mayor Richard Norcross in an interview with The Globe. “It’s an important opportunity for us to showcase our community on the global stage.”
There are suitable training facilities in metropolitan hubs all across the country, including Toronto, which plays host to six games – two of which Panama will play in. But few places, as it turns out, have two international-sized soccer pitches, comfortable lodging for a 26-man squad (plus coaches, trainers and other staff), and a slew of amenities including two pools and 36 holes of golf – right on the premises.
Being able to walk to practices and other activities is a big benefit. “The logistics of transporting players by bus is actually quite complex when you factor in security, FIFA escorts and even just city traffic,” Dino Biffis, the resort’s vice president and the son of its founder, told The Globe. The late Lou Biffis purchased the land – a sod farm – in 1959 and transformed it into an inn, which opened in 1968.
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Sylvia Biffis, left, and her brother, Dino, stand in the Lobby Bar at the Nottawasaga Resort. Sylvia is wearing a Panama jersey while Dino holds a 2026 FIFA World Cup ball and sports a 1994 World Cup shirt, a nod to when the resort hosted the German national team ahead of the ’94 tournament. Arisa Valyear/The Globe and Mail
“Here, you walk out to the parking lot and you’re at the soccer field,” Sylvia Biffis, Dino’s sister and director of sales at Nottawasaga Resort, said in an interview. “Plus, you’re in a beautiful rural setting with zero distractions where the focus really is on the training.”
Another bonus? The Nottawasaga Resort has hosted world-class athletes before. Both the women’s and men’s Canadian national teams have trained there, plus Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon (the country’s third-most decorated team and Union of European Football Associations Champions League competitors) and homegrown squad Toronto FC.
Most notably, the men’s German national team used the resort as a practice facility ahead of the 1994 World Cup in the United States. Hosting the reigning world champions (the Germans clinched the title in 1990) put the small-town inn on the map as a training hot spot worthy of the sport’s elite.
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The Adidas Trionda, the official game ball for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, on the Kentucky bluegrass pitch at the Nottawasaga Resort on June 11. Arisa Valyear/The Globe and Mail
At the time, the facility already had one international-sized pitch on site that was added in 1977 and used recreationally. “Berti Vogts, the coach of the German squad, came to scout out the facility because the team’s first few games were in Chicago and the conditions and climate here were similar,” Dino says. “He rubbed the grass and said, ‘This is good. Can you build us a second field?’ and we did.” The regulation field was added in 1993 and was later expanded to international size in 2013.
More than three decades later, Canada Soccer came knocking. “They called us in 2019 to ask if we were interested in participating in the World Cup, potentially as a base camp, and we said absolutely,” Sylvia said. In 2020, City of Toronto officials reached out, and two years later, Ontario’s capital was announced as an official host city.
Base-camp locations were finalized in 2024 and 2025, and it wasn’t until 2026 that FIFA teams started scouting the location. “Three teams visited us. Norway, Croatia and Panama,” Dino says. Based on FIFA’s selection process criteria, which takes into consideration a team’s preference, their ranking and the number of nearby games, Panama won.
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Panama goalkeeper César Samudio says he’s been enjoying the natural surroundings in New Tecumseth, Ont. Arisa Valyear/The Globe and Mail
The team arrived at the resort on June 7, and so far, they seem fairly pleased with their home base. A few players have spoken a…
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