Ontario town selected as host for Team Panama during FIFA World Cup

While two dozen teams descend on Toronto and Vancouver for matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, one small Ontario town is also generating a lot of buzz.

The Town of New Tecumseth, located approximately 80 minutes north of downtown Toronto, will host Team Panama during its World Cup matches.

The team will play in Toronto against Ghana and Croatia on June 17 and 23, respectively, and in New Jersey against England on June 27.

“Having two games in Toronto, it made sense to look for something nearby,” said Thomas Christiansen, head coach of the Panama National Team, in a media release.

“It’s about an hour and a half from the city, where the stadium will be, and as I said, there’s plenty of privacy here to work well during the days we’ll be here, which is something that we were looking (for), so it’s perfect.”

The team will stay at the Nottawasaga Resort, a full-service hotel and conference facility located along Highway 89.

While it is not unusual for resorts as such to boast golf courses, the Nottawasaga Resort is the only one in Canada, and one of two in North America, that has an international sized pitch on site, according to the Sylvia Biffis, director of group sales at the resort.

Family-owned and operated since 1968, the Biffis and Lombardi families were always dedicated to providing athletic facilities to their guests.

In 1993, former Germany football team manager, Berti Vogts, who also played for West Germany when the team won the World Cup in 1974, visited Nottawasaga to inspect the property ahead of the 1994 World Cup .

Biffis said Vogts was so impressed, he just had one request: “Could you build us a second pitch on-site?”

“Seeing the world’s best players train on those fields became a deeply meaningful moment for everyone involved including the community,” Biffis told Global News.

“When Germany arrived in 1994, the team praised the quality of the pitches, saying they were as good as any they had played on the international stage. As they joked, the only thing missing was the stadium filled with 100,000 fans.”

Since 1994, the resort has hosted both the Canadian Women’s and Men’s National Teams for training camps. In 2020, the City of Toronto identified the resort as a potential team base camp location. Panama took the bait.

New Tecumseth Mayor Richard Norcross told Global News hosting Team Panama brings a great sense of pride to the community, and represents the municipality’s dedication to increasing access to parks and recreation.

With a population of just 50,000, the Town of New Tecumseth has four soccer leagues with a combined membership of more than 3,000.

“It’s a growing sport and New Tecumseth is one of the top-growing communities in Canada and we recognize that we have to have investments … in our community,” Norcross said. “More importantly, we want to make sure that we have what our residents want and need.”

Municipal staff are currently exploring where the town could build a dome to increase access to field sports year-round.

Norcross said the town is also partnering with Simcoe County to host a community event with Team Panama to welcome them to the community.

“We’re inviting our business leaders, our community partners, and we want to make sure that when they leave, it’s going to be the best experience they’ve ever had and say, ‘We want to come back,’” he said.

The question for residents of New Tecumseth now remains: Team Canada, or Team Panama?

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