The Home Behind the Champions

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – For more than a month, the Spanish National Team called Chattanooga home, and now the city can say it hosted the 2026 FIFA World Cup champions.

Spain selected Chattanooga as its official Team Base Camp before the tournament, choosing Embassy Suites Downtown as its headquarters while training daily at Baylor School. 

The location gave players a quiet place to recover, prepare and stay focused between matches throughout their World Cup run.

The hotel went well beyond providing rooms. Spain’s federation transformed parts of Embassy Suites into a home away from home by displaying artwork from Spain throughout the property, creating familiar spaces that reflected the team’s culture during the tournament.

Hotel staff also tailored nearly every detail of the team’s stay. 

Hundreds of new pillows were ordered, a temporary gym was built inside the hotel, meals were prepared to the team’s specifications, and even the dining room furniture was changed to better meet the team’s needs.

Players repeatedly returned to Chattanooga after matches across the United States, making the city their home base throughout the tournament. 

Defender Pedro Porro described Chattanooga as “a very, very quiet place,” saying it was exactly the kind of environment the team needed to stay calm and focused while chasing a World Cup title.

After Spain won the World Cup, Embassy Suites celebrated the team’s championship run by hosting a public watch party for the final. 

Guests who purchased an entrée were entered into a raffle to win one of the pieces of artwork that had been displayed during Spain’s stay, giving one fan a unique keepsake from the champions’ time in Chattanooga.

For a few weeks in the summer of 2026, soccer’s newest world champions didn’t just visit Chattanooga. They lived here.