Turkey World Cup soccer team selecting Mesa for international training grounds

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KONYA ,TURKIYE - SEPTEMBER 06: Turkish Men's National Football Team players attend the training session, under the lead of head coach Vincenzo Montella, ahead of 2026 FIFA World Cup European Qualifiers Group E match against Spain at the Medas Konya M

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MESA, Ariz. - The city of Mesa is getting ready to welcome the Turkish men’s national soccer team as excitement builds ahead of their arrival to train for the World Cup.

The team will be calling the Arizona Athletic Grounds home between their matches, putting Mesa in the international soccer spotlight.

Local perspective:

The World Cup is now just about three weeks away, and the Turkish men’s national team is expected to arrive on June 7. In the meantime, crews are working to get the fields World Cup-ready and make sure the team feels at home in Mesa.

"We are thrilled. We are so excited," said Mustafa Uygur, an Arizona resident. Uygur says being this close to a team he grew up loving is almost unimaginable.

"Everybody in the family, they are saying that, ‘Wow, we cannot see them when they are here in Turkey.’ But you get to see them when they’re in Arizona," Uygur said.

Uygur moved to Arizona a decade ago and now runs a phone repair shop. As Turkey prepares for its first World Cup appearance since 2002, he and his family say they’re ready to rally behind their team.

"So it's been many years since Turkey last played in their World Cup. And I wasn’t even born yet," said Arizona resident Ali Uygur.

Dig deeper:

Between games, the team will train in Mesa at the Arizona Athletic Grounds. The 275-acre complex is one of the largest sports facilities in North America, with more than two million visitors every year.

"It is a Herculean effort to get the fields to the standard that FIFA needs them to be," said David Hayes, senior director of fields and operations, Arizona Athletic Grounds.

Hayes says crews are working to make sure the training fields match World Cup playing conditions, even under the Arizona sun, with weekly check-ins with FIFA and constant quality testing.

"They check everything from more height to moisture content and everything in between. And then we laid the lines down and then the mowers have to follow very strict mowing patterns. The lines have to be painted very to a very specific schematic. So it really is down to the, to the millimeter," Hayes explained.

Between players, coaches, and family members, about 60 people will be moving between hotels and the training facilities during the team’s stay.

'It's all right here in Mesa, Arizona'

Mesa Mayor Mark Freeman says the complex being picked as a training site is a big win for the city and a sign that years of investment in sports facilities and infrastructure are paying off.

"For Mesa to be part of this growth, in part to participate in this, these events like this, we have planned for this over the decades. We have the roadways, we have the infrastructure, we have the water, we have the hotels, the hospitality part of it. And it's all right here in Mesa, Arizona," Freeman said.

Turkey is expected to play the U.S. on June 25, and who will the Uygur family be supporting?

"We are in a dilemma of which team we are going to support."

What's next:

The team will be training in the evenings to try and beat the Arizona heat. Training sessions will be closed to the public, but fans will still get a chance to see the team up close.

A community day is set for June 8, with opportunities for autographs and photos. More information on that will be released this Friday.

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