How a countryside Ontario resort became an official FIFA World Cup training ground

How a countryside Ontario resort became an official FIFA World Cup training ground

Nottawasaga Resort will be Team Panama's base camp during the World Cup

Team Panama's base camp for the FIFA World Cup is in Ontario. Here's why

About 90 minutes north of Toronto, nestled between farmers' fields and 36 holes of golf is a soccer pitch fit for the sport’s biggest stage.

At the Nottawasaga Resort and Conference Centre in Alliston, Ont., a love of the beautiful game is family tradition. And that tradition has led the family business to play a key role in Canada’s first men’s FIFA World Cup as Team Panama’s base camp for the tournament.

It’s a chance for the resort to be part of Canadian sports history, and a fitting one too. Decades ago, resort founder Lou Biffis came to Canada with $5 in his pocket and a passion for soccer, his son told CBC News.

“I know he's smiling. We wish he could be here to see this all come together,” said the resort's vice-president, Dino Biffis, standing on the proprietary blend of Kentucky bluegrass that makes up his FIFA-ready pitch.

“This is just a super proud moment for us to be able to do this.”

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There are 48 team base camps across Canada, Mexico and the United States. The locations are described on FIFA’s website as “world-class training facilities” that each team will make their home away from home. Team Canada's base camp is in Vancouver at the National Soccer Development Centre.

Only one camp is in Ontario, at Nottawasaga.

The resort says Canada Soccer contacted it more than five years ago about the possibility of becoming a base camp. But it wasn’t until the end of 2025 that teams began making their choices.

Resort has hosted national teams before

For a business that opened its doors in 1968, it’s not its first experience with World Cup athletes.

The last time the men’s World Cup was played in North America — spread across the United States in 1994 — the German squad stayed at the resort to prepare.

The visits didn’t stop there. Both the men’s and women’s Canadian teams, the women’s American team and the women’s Australian team played in the same spot next Ontario Highway 89, Biffis said

“They always look to us because we're so close to the city, away from city distractions, but have everything here on site.”

Even though the resort is experienced in hosting the world’s best, the harsh and seemingly unending winter of 2026 made the preparations stressful.

The field was torn up in November 2025, to make way for underground drainage, a revamped irrigation system and a certain specified slope.

“We were working with just any little opportunity that we had,” Biffis said. “There were pockets of time that we just went crazy getting it done and pockets of time that you just had to sit and wait for Mother Nature.”

When new pipes had to be laid, frozen ground stood in the way. But when the ground melted, it became too mushy for machinery needed for other work. In the spring, FIFA-approved grass had to be laid, cut to 23 millimetres.

Again, it’s an area where his family has experience. His father initially purchased the land as a sod farm in 1959. But with 36 holes of golf now on site, the resort has a landscaping crew that’s up to the task.

“FIFA wanted the continuity of having the same sort of grass in different locations regardless of whether you were a practice surface or you're playing at Toronto Stadium,” Biffis said.

Nearby residents get chance to watch training

The excitement extends beyond the resort, according to Town of New Tecumseth Mayor Richard Norcross.

“We're very thrilled for them. We're thrilled for the town,” he said.

Starting Tuesday at noon, residents of New Tecumseth will be able to register for a Team Panama community training session at the resort set to be held on June 11. It will give fans nearby a chance to watch the World Cup team train up close.

Panama will play its first two games of the tournament in Toronto against Ghana and Croatia, before heading to New Jersey to take on England.

Lane Harrison is a reporter with CBC Toronto who primarily covers municipal and provincial politics. Born and raised in Toronto, he joined CBC in 2022 as a Joan Donaldson Scholar after an internship with the Globe and Mail. You can reach him at lane.harrison@cbc.ca