photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

Rock Chalk Park, 100 Rock Chalk Ln., in northwest Lawrence. Lawrence officials announced Thursday that the Algerian National Team will locate its base camp in Lawrence for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with the team training at Rock Chalk Park.

Lawrence will welcome the Algerian National Team, serving as its official base camp for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Lawrence 26 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 2014. The team will train at Rock Chalk Park, according to Jason Booker, deputy athletic director for the University of Kansas.

Ruth DeWitt, director of community relations for Explore Lawrence, the city’s convention and visitors bureau, said Lawrence has been preparing to welcome visitors for the past year and a half, and she is happy the players, staff, family and fans of the Algerian men’s team will use the city as its “home away from home” this summer.

“We all join in saying, ‘Welcome home, Algeria,'” DeWitt said.

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.

In January 2025, a Unified Command structure was formalized for Douglas County organizations to coordinate preparations for the tournament. It formed Lawrence 26 as part of its efforts to bring together individuals and organizations from across Douglas County to address logistics for an influx of thousands of visitors drawn by the base camp and the nearby matches.

Booker said he and KU Athletics were thrilled with the various partners helping organize the effort to bring a national team to Lawrence and Rock Chalk Park, which he said many countries visiting the region scouting base camps called a “world-class facility.” The Algerian team will train and prepare at the facility during the tournament, and he is excited that KU and Lawrence will be put into the global spotlight.

“This summer offers a tremendous opportunity to showcase the broader university, Lawrence, Douglas County and our surrounding region,” Booker said. “I am very appreciative of the tremendous collaboration across all parties to make this a reality.”

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, Cali. on June 22, 2026.

Lawrence 26 said now that Algeria has chosen the city as a base camp, the group will “zero in on the particular needs ­– linguistic, cultural and otherwise — of fans and players” in its preparations.