The travails of picking the right base for a World Cup

There’s a story, whether it is embellished for the sake of the tale or not, which points out how the only people more distraught by England’s quarter final exit from the 2006 World Cup were the local bar owners, restauranteurs and hoteliers who’d seen the small German town of Baden Baden transformed for a month.

Normally a tranquil spa town nestled in the Black Forest mountains, Baden Baden became the epicentre of England’s World Cup campaign 12 years ago. More accurately, it became a circus, not so much focussed on the preparations and training sessions of Sven Goran Eriksson and his players, but on the WAGs, the celebrities and the thousands of fans who also set up base there for the duration of the tournament.

“Football almost became a secondary element to the main event,” Rio Ferdinand admitted years later. “People were worrying more about what people were wearing or where people were going than the England football team.” Portugal might have put England out of the 2006 World Cup, but their campaign was undermined from the very start thanks to their choice of base.

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Lessons were learned, with England choosing a more isolated base for the 2010 World Cup. But players were so isolated that boredom set in. “Lying in bed at two in the afternoon, that’s quite boring,” Wayne Rooney complained. “Thankfully the games are on now and we can watch them. Takes a bit of the boredom away.” Such an environment wasn’t exactly conducive to the cultivation of a strong team spirit. ‘Camp Capello,’ it was dubbed.

This summer, Gareth Southgate and his side will be based at a modest hotel in the village of Repino, located not far from St Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland. It’s a far cry from the opulent resorts chosen by England for previous major tournaments.

TripAdvisor ranks the ForRestMix club as only the third best hotel in Repino out of seven.

Finding the right World Cup base can be difficult, and it’s not a problem exclusively encountered by England. See the Netherlands’ decision to stay in a hotel right on Copacabana Beach for the duration of the 2014 World Cup, with parties held on the roof of the complex. Louis Van Gaal’s players were largely unaffected by the hustle and bustle they found around them, but the Dutch FA’s decision to book such a hotel was heavily criticised back home.

Of course, the Netherlands won’t be faced with this issue this summer, having missed out on a place at the World Cup. But others made their hotel and training ground bookings as soon as their qualification was secured.

In contrast to the ForRestMix club in Repino, Brazil will be staying at a £600-a-night resort in Sochi. Spain will be based in Krasnodar, with the defending world champions Germany in Moscow.

There is a fierce bidding process which sees every participating nation compete for the base of their choosing. Demands are made on both sides, with England asking that a 20ft screen be constructed around their training ground in the village of Zelenogorsk not far from Repino. Southgate, it would seem, is paranoid about the risk of spies from other teams.

Players and national teams are mocked for being pampered as they prepare for tournaments like the World Cup. Jaffa Cakes and English mustard will be flown in as home comforts for the Three Lions this summer, with Brazil even booking native entertainment for their players to enjoy during their stay in Sochi.

But it’s worth keeping in mind how these are elite athletes. It’s important that are comfortable between training and playing. Their performance levels could suffer otherwise.

Baden Baden and Rustenberg serve as reminders of how the wrong choice of training base can have knock-on consequences. There is a balance to be struck between boredom and disorder.

When England leave Repino, they’ll hope to have left an impression on the locals, but not in the way they did 12 years ago in Germany.