The 2026 World Cup is nearly over, with the final taking place on Sunday, but which nation has travelled the furthest distance this summer?
Even before a ball has been kicked, the location of the 2026 World Cup has proven one of the hottest topics in the build-up to the tournament, and it’s clear to see why. Spanning three countries and three time zones, the tournament stretches across a vast geographical footprint, with the furthest distance between any two venues sitting at 2,800 miles – all the way from Vancouver to Miami.
As a consequence, the logistics of the tournament will have put every nation’s organisational ability to the test. So which team faced the longest journey between their base camp and their fixtures along the way?
To find out, we calculated the distance between each nation’s base and their match locations as the crow flies, counting each trip as a round journey. We’ve also disregarded any side that was eliminated in the group stage, as none played enough games to be considered.
Which nations have travelled the furthest distance?
| Nation | Base Camp | Group stage total | Knockout distance | Total distance |
| England | Prairie Village, KS | 5,578 | 10,380 | 15,958 |
| Spain | Chattanooga, TN | 3,380 | 11,730 | 15,110 |
| Paraguay | San Jose, CA | 640 | 10,342 | 10,982 |
| Colombia | Guadalajara, Jalisco | 3,610 | 7,264 | 10,874 |
| Switzerland | San Diego, CA | 3,434 | 7,416 | 10,850 |
| Canada | Vancouver, BC | 4,174 | 6,142 | 10,316 |
| Argentina | Kansas City, MO | 1,856 | 7,354 | 9,210 |
| Morocco | Warren, NJ | 1,888 | 6,788 | 8,676 |
| Portugal | Palm Beach, FL | 3,938 | 4,548 | 8,486 |
| Egypt | Airway Heights, WA | 1,436 | 6,898 | 8,334 |
| Norway | Greensboro, NC | 3,372 | 4,322 | 7,694 |
| France | Boston, MA | 966 | 6,590 | 7,556 |
| Bosnia-Herzegovina | Salt Lake City, UT | 5,902 | 1,176 | 7,078 |
| South Africa | Pachuca, Hidalgo | 3,494 | 3,068 | 6,562 |
| Ecuador | Columbus, OH | 3,006 | 3,438 | 6,444 |
| Algeria | Lawrence, KS | 3,064 | 3,086 | 6,150 |
| Austria | Goleta, CA | 5,964 | 182 | 6,146 |
| Japan | Nashville, TN | 4,684 | 1,342 | 6,026 |
| Australia | Berkeley, CA | 2,994 | 2,916 | 5,910 |
| Senegal | New Brunswick, NJ | 790 | 4,778 | 5,568 |
| Germany | Winston-Salem, NC | 3,944 | 1,268 | 5,212 |
| Brazil | Basking Ridge, NJ | 2,320 | 2,846 | 5,166 |
| United States | Irvine, CA | 2,118 | 2,672 | 4,790 |
| DR Congo | Houston, TX | 3,024 | 1,402 | 4,426 |
| Sweden | Frisco, TX | 1,684 | 2,716 | 4,400 |
| Netherlands | Kansas City, MO | 2,238 | 1,970 | 4,208 |
| Belgium | Renton, WA | 2,192 | 1,950 | 4,142 |
| Croatia | Alexandria, VA | 3,354 | 712 | 4,066 |
| Ghana | Providence, RI | 1,364 | 2,450 | 3,814 |
| Ivory Coast | Wilmington, DE | 762 | 2,582 | 3,344 |
| Cape Verde | Tampa, FL | 2,808 | 388 | 3,196 |
| Mexico | Mexico City, Mexico City | 624 | 36 | 660 |
The disparity between England’s travel distance and Mexico’s is vast. The two nations are at opposite ends of the distance travelled table, with England clocking up just shy of 16,000 miles. Mexico travelled just 660 miles in their campaign before being beaten by the Three Lions.
While Mexico benefitted as co-hosts, the schedule wasn’t as kind to the other hosts, Canada and the United States. Canada had to travel over 10,000 miles, while United States travelled a distance of 4,790 miles.
Overall, six of the nations playing at the World Cup will have travelled more than 10,000 miles by time the full time whistle blows on Sunday.
We were just five minutes away from the two nations that travelled the most facing off in the final, perhaps telling us that distance isn’t that big of a factor when it comes to World Cup success.
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