On Eve Of World Cup, France's Footballers Find 'Base Camp' In Waltham

WALTHAM AND WELLESLEY, MA — The Summer of Soccer has yet to begin in Boston, but a related competition between rival colleges has just played out.

Bentley University, in Waltham, said late Thursday it will serve as base camp for the French national soccer team while it participates in the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The announcement comes as a surprise since Babson College, a few miles away in Wellesley, was widely expected to become the training grounds.

“The decision positions Bentley and the city of Waltham on the global sports stage as one of the world’s most celebrated soccer teams prepares for the tournament,” Bentley said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

The selection follows a visit earlier this week to the Bentley campus by officials of the French Football Federation and the team, l’Équipe de France de Football.

“We received an extremely warm welcome, and, above all, we believe that Bentley is the best option for the French national team for the World Cup,” said the team’s head coach, Didier Deschamps.

The international soccer tournament, the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, kicks off June 11 and will include seven matches in Massachusetts – at Foxborough’s Gillette Stadium, which will be known temporarily as “Boston Stadium.”

A record-number 48 national teams will compete at 16 venues across the U.S., Canada and Mexico over a five-week period.

Home turf

Each team needs its own turf to practice on, as well as training facilities, offices, meeting spaces and living quarters. The selection of these “base camps” can be as competitive as the choice of the match venues themselves.

In January, the French team toured Babson and it looked as if the team would camp there this summer. But no final agreement resulted. Some news media reported that the Babson soccer pitch wasn’t up to international standards and that the team viewed the financial terms as “excessive.”

Calls to both schools for more information about the base camp selection weren’t immediately returned.

While they will practice and prepare at Bentley this summer, the French footballers will reside in Boston, at the Four Seasons Hotel.

Babson College and Bentley University were both founded as business schools – in 1919 and 1917, respectively. Their enrollments are similar and there's some competition for students, although Bentley now has a broader curriculum and each school has carved out its own niche. The two campuses are 7 miles apart.