Winston-Salem: The DFB German football association announced on Friday that the men's national team will be staying at the Graylyn Estate Hotel in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as they embark on their quest for a fifth World Cup title. The facility, which resembles a castle, was built almost 100 years ago by a tobacco entrepreneur. The DFB has reserved all 85 rooms for the duration of the World Cup.
According to Deutsche Welle, Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann, sporting director Rudi Völler, and the DFB's managing director, Andreas Rettig, visited the facility in early December, just after the World Cup draw in Washington, DC. The hotel is conveniently located just 10 minutes by bike from the three grass training pitches at Wake Forest University, which the team will be using between matches.
"Due to the vast distances in the USA, we already cover long distances, which we therefore want to avoid as much as possible in our daily training routine. We've succeeded in doing that with this base camp," Nagelsmann said in a statement posted on the DFB's website. He noted similarities to the national team's permanent "Home Ground" retreat in Herzogenaurach, used during the 2024 European Championship.
Rettig emphasized the strategic importance of the base camp, describing the decision-making process as "very complex." Germany has historically viewed the selection of a tournament headquarters as crucial to its success. The Campo Bahia, built for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, was credited with contributing to Germany's victory. Conversely, the choices of Vatutinki near Moscow and the Qatari desert were criticized following Germany's early exits in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Germany plans to travel to the United States on June 2, before playing a friendly against the United States at Chicago's Soldier Field on June 6. Their World Cup campaign will begin against Curacao in Houston on June 14, followed by matches against Ivory Coast in Toronto on June 20, and Ecuador in East Rutherford on June 25.