The champions' bunker: luxury and comfort for Argentina at the World Cup | OneFootball

The Argentina National Team is already settled into its “new home”: Kansas City. For the 2026 World Cup, which will begin on June 11, the delegation led by Lionel Scaloni will be based in one of the cities located in the heart of the United States, something that will allow the Albiceleste delegation to move around easily in every direction.

Specifically, the national team is staying at the Hotel Origin and will use the luxurious Compass Minerals National Performance Center as its training ground, which is usually used by Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer (MLS). What is it like inside, and what adaptations were made to it?

First things first: the city. Known as America’s soccer capital, Kansas City has a population of more than 516,000 people, and in the heart of the city stands a 20-meter monument, which is the country’s museum and official tribute to those who fell during World War I.

There, in that place where the Kansas City streetcar, buses, the nearby Union Station, the bike-sharing system, and several major highways all converge, the Fan Fest will be set up during the World Cup, and it will be free for the public.

In that city, which will host World Cup matches, six games will be played, including Argentina’s opener. The venue for that will be Kansas City Stadium, inaugurated in 1972 and with a capacity of 73,000, which holds a Guinness record: the loudest outdoor sports venue in the world. That is because it is home to the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, and in 2014, during a game against the New England Patriots, a crowd noise level of 142.2 decibels was recorded, an unprecedented mark.

The stadium that will host Argentina’s first match holds the Guinness record for the loudest noise ever recorded at a stadium during an event.

Meanwhile, as for the sports complex itself that Argentina is already using, it was inaugurated in January 2018, covers 21 hectares, and is located on the banks of the Missouri River in the Berkley Riverfront area. It has five floors, 118 rooms, three full-size training fields, and two more with artificial turf. At the same time, all of them have LED lighting, and there is a pavilion with classrooms and a platform to watch training sessions from above.

The facilities include a gym, a hydrotherapy room for the players’ recovery, and a multipurpose event hall. Also, according to images released at the time by the AFA, there are recovery pools with cutting-edge technology, marble finishes, professional lighting, and integrated television screens.

However, that was before the Argentina National Team arrived. AFA president Claudio Tapia himself, who visited the site this Monday, posted on his social media how the complex was modified “in every detail and every corner so that La Scaloneta feels at home.”

The locker room was completely redesigned in sky blue and white, with images of the players and signs bearing the phrase “Let’s go Argentina.” The hallways and surrounding areas were also customized with posters of the call-ups, framed pictures, phrases, and various references so that the squad can preserve that sense of belonging. Or, in Tapia’s own words, “Argentineness turned all the way up.”

Another important point is that an additional gym was built exclusively in the parking lot, since the management and coaching staff felt it was necessary to enhance the team’s behind-closed-doors work with new specialized equipment.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.