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Korean national team to kick off World Cup training in Salt Lake City

Published: 16 Apr. 2026, 17:58

The Korean national football team poses ahead of a game with the Austrian national team in Vienna, Austria, on March 30. [YONHAP]

The Korean national football team, led by coach Hong Myung-bo, will be preparing for the upcoming World Cup in Salt Lake City, Utah, before heading to Guadalajara, Mexico, the Korea Football Association (KFA) said Thursday.

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The national team plans to use the training grounds and weight training facilities of Major League Soccer team Real Salt Lake and the University of Utah during the pretournament camp.

The pretournament camp was chosen to help the team adjust in stages before settling into its World Cup base in Mexico.

“Salt Lake City was selected after comprehensively considering the climate conditions of the region that will host the group-stage matches and base camp training, as well as the need to adapt to high altitude,” the KFA said Thursday.

“The association also visited multiple candidate sites and consulted experts in sports science and environmental adaptation.”

Salt Lake City’s training site sits at an altitude of about 1,460 meters (4,790 feet), similar to Guadalajara, which is about 1,500 meters above sea level and will host Korea’s base camp as well as the team's first and second group-stage matches.

High altitude environments have lower oxygen pressure and affects the players' aerobic capacity. It often makes running load feel harder and recovery slower.

The time difference is also the same at 15 hours during the United States' daylight saving period, which the association said made Salt Lake City the best place for the team to adapt to local conditions.

Korea will announce its final World Cup squad on May 16 before the first group, including Hong, departs for the United States two days later on May 18. Players who make the final roster will arrive in Salt Lake City in stages depending on their club schedules.

Korean national team coach Hong Myung-bo, right, before Korea's match with Austria in Vienna on March 30. [YONHAP]

The national team plans to play two warm-up matches during the pretournament camp to sharpen its organization and match fitness ahead of the finals. Specific opponents and dates will be announced later.

After wrapping up the camp, Korea, which is in Group A with co-host Mexico, will move to its base camp in Guadalajara on June 5, six days before its opening match, to begin its final local preparations.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY PARK LIN [[email protected]]