Less than a week after the Austrian National Soccer Team announced that it would be staying in Goleta and practicing at the UC Santa Barbara campus in preparation for the upcoming FIFA World Cup, the Qatar National Team confirmed that it would be staying in Santa Barbara and training at Westmont College leading up to the first round of the tournament this summer.
The Qatar Football Association officially announced in a social media post on January 28 that the national team — known by its fanbase as “Al Annabi” or “The Maroons”— would be setting up its base camp in Santa Barbara. The next day, the Qatar team website published a photo of team manager Julen Lopetegui walking through the sunny Westmont campus in Montecito on a tour of the facilities.
The visit was part of a final inspection to ensure Westmont’s practice field and training facilities were prepared for the Qatar national team, which qualified for the World Cup for the first time this year after earning an automatic bid as the hosts of the 2022 World Cup. The 2022 tournament was the first and only World Cup hosted in the Middle East, and host country Qatar was eliminated after losing all three first round matches.
Qatar has enjoyed new success under Coach Lopetegui, a former Spanish goalkeeper who has risen the ranks as a manager for premier European clubs such as Sevilla and West Ham United. The current Qatar roster features players who were part of the team’s two AFC Asian Cup championships in 2019 and 2023.
This year, the Maroons qualified for the World Cup after defeating the United Arab Emirates at home in Doha, Qatar, on October 14, 2025.
Coach Lopetegui said the team’s choice to train in Santa Barbara is part of a focus on “optimal preparation.” Qatar Football Association representatives said that Lopetegui inspected the practice fields, gym, training rooms, and locker rooms. The location was also selected because it allows the team an easier path to travel to their first two scheduled games on the Pacific coast.
Qatar’s team and staff are expected to arrive in Santa Barbara in early June, and would be training at Westmont ahead of their first group stage match against Switzerland in Santa Clara on June 13. The team will return to Santa Barbara to train before the second group match of the tournament, against host-team Canada in Vancouver on June 18.
Officials from Westmont College could not speak on the record about the plans to host a FIFA World Cup team. While representatives from the athletic department did confirm that FIFA personnel and team representatives held scouting trips at the campus, they could not offer public comments about the process by which the team was selected.
Westmont has previously hosted professional and national-level soccer teams at the campus, including Major League Soccer teams and the U.S. Women’s National Team, which practiced at the campus prior to the 2022 Women’s World Cup. For last year’s FIFA Club World Cup, Westmont was chosen as a host site for the Botafogo Club from Brazil.
Westmont officials said this year’s contract between the college and FIFA was in the works, and more information will be released when the arrangement is finalized.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect input from Westmont College.
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