Boston, United States — France’s national football team will be based in Boston during the upcoming World Cup, the French Football Federation (FFF) announced on Friday, confirming the northeastern U.S. city as the team’s operational hub for the group stage of the tournament.
The two-time World Cup champions will conduct their training sessions at Babson College, a private business school located approximately 30 minutes from downtown Boston, where the team will be accommodated. While the federation did not disclose the name of the hotel, an FFF source said officials sought a venue that could be fully reserved, was not overly large, and could comfortably host a delegation of around 60 people.
According to the source, the selected hotel also needed to allow for the installation of dedicated spaces for medical treatment, gym facilities, and video analysis sessions key logistical requirements for a high-performance tournament environment.
France’s group stage fixtures will see them travel relatively short distances from their Boston base. Les Bleus will face Senegal on June 16 in New York/New Jersey, approximately 300 kilometres away, before travelling about 500 kilometres to Philadelphia to play an intercontinental playoff qualifier—either Iraq, Bolivia, or Suriname on June 22.
Kylian Mbappé and his teammates will then return to Boston for their third group match, where they are scheduled to face Norway, led by Erling Haaland, on June 26.
Head coach Didier Deschamps is reportedly satisfied with the team’s geographical placement, which allows France to avoid long domestic flights and extreme heat conditions during the group stage. The northeastern region of the United States is expected to offer more moderate weather and logistical stability compared to other host areas.
The choice of Boston reflects careful planning by the French Football Federation as it seeks to optimize performance conditions while managing travel demands in a geographically expansive host nation.
