Croatia’s World Cup Team Gives Alexandria Kids a Front‑Row View
Hundreds of local kids packed the sidelines at Episcopal High School as Croatia’s World Cup squad turned a closed training ground into Alexandria’s biggest soccer classroom.
ALEXANDRIA, VA – For hundreds of Alexandria kids, the World Cup arrived not on a TV screen, but on the grass right in front of them.
Croatia’s men’s national soccer team — one of the world’s top‑ranked sides and 2018 World Cup finalists — turned Episcopal High School into a World Cup training ground Wednesday evening, inviting local youth to ring the field as they prepared for the 2026 tournament.
Alexandria was confirmed earlier this year as Croatia’s official Team Base Camp, a status now listed by FIFA and U.S. Soccer in their World Cup planning guides, which detail Alexandria’s World Cup plans and economic impact. “We are honored to welcome Croatia to Alexandria as their Team Base Camp for the World Cup 2026,” Visit Alexandria President and CEO Todd O’Leary said when the partnership was announced. He has described the city as Croatia’s “home away from home,” with players staying in Old Town and training at Episcopal’s West End campus.
From field level Wednesday night, it felt like stepping into a video game.
Kids in rec jerseys and school T‑shirts pressed against temporary barriers and painted lines, watching as players warmed up, fired passes through tight spaces and ran full‑speed drills on the same pitch that will serve as their training base throughout the group stage. A recent social‑media post about Episcopal’s role joked, “POV: World Cup team is training at your high school,” capturing the surreal feeling of seeing global stars take over a familiar field.
City and tourism officials have been building toward this moment with a plan that blends elite soccer and local access.
Along with closed‑door professional sessions, Visit Alexandria and the city have rolled out a slate of public events, including the “Flavors & Sounds of Croatia – Alexandria” celebration at Waterfront Park and World Cup watch parties along the waterfront and around town. Those festivities grew out of plans first announced in Zebra’s coverage of the free World Cup celebration planned when Team Croatia chose Alexandria as its home base.
Wednesday’s event at Episcopal was the kid‑forward piece of that plan.
According to city invitations and local reporting, the crowd included Alexandria City Public Schools soccer teams, Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities youth programs, Alexandria Soccer Association players and other neighborhood‑based groups — not just elite travel squads. According to The Alexandria Brief, the idea was that if a World Cup team is going to call Alexandria home, kids from across the city should be able to see what that looks like up close, regardless of which league they play in or what neighborhood they come from.
City leaders also turned out in Croatia‑inspired Alexandria jerseys, snapping photos with families and young players on the sidelines as the training wrapped up.
Behind the scenes, the Alexandria Police Department was helping make that possible.
“The Alexandria Police Department is proud to support the City of Alexandria’s efforts to host the Croatian National Soccer Team as they prepare for the 2026 FIFA World Cup,” the department said in a statement posted on social media. “Behind the scenes, APD officers and professional staff have worked closely with City partners, event organizers, and team representatives to help ensure a safe and welcoming experience for players, staff, and fans throughout their stay.”
Calling Wednesday “an exciting opportunity for our community to see one of the world’s premier soccer teams in action right here in Alexandria,” APD added, “We are honored to play a role in helping showcase Alexandria on the world stage and wish the Croatian team continued success in the tournament,” and offered a special thank‑you to Episcopal High School “for hosting today’s practice and helping showcase the hospitality and community spirit that make Alexandria such a great place to visit.”
For a young player standing along the touchline, the small details were the kind you usually only see on broadcast replays.
The intensity of a rondo drill, the way a goalkeeper organizes the back line, the quick huddles with coaches between phases of training — all unfolded just a few yards away. Even the setting underscored the stakes: Episcopal is one of a small group of U.S. high schools pressed into service as World Cup training bases this summer, part of a broader trend of elite private campuses hosting national teams.
That moment is also a payoff for neighbors who followed the school’s long‑running effort to upgrade its facilities. In Episcopal High School’s emergency plea for athletic field lighting late last year, the school cited its need to host major events — well before most of the city knew a World Cup team was coming.
Fans across the city have been vocal about what Croatia’s choice means for Alexandria. “It’s one of the best things that ever happened,” local fan David Arbieto said in a TV interview about the team’s arrival. “It’s a pleasure that Croatia is actually coming here to Alexandria.” Visit Alexandria leaders have said they expect the World Cup connection to bring both international attention and a boost for hotels, restaurants and small businesses.
After training, the distance between “TV heroes” and “sideline fans” collapsed to a few feet of turf.
Croatia will return to Alexandria between group‑stage matches in Dallas, Toronto and Philadelphia, using Episcopal as its home base to recover, train and reset throughout the opening phase of the tournament. As the World Cup unfolds, Alexandria’s bet is that the kids who were there Wednesday night will remember not only the scorelines from distant stadiums, but the evening when a World Cup camp came to their neighborhood — and, for a few hours, let them stand just a few yards from the center of the world’s game.
