King like a pauper - Real Madrid without locker rooms and bathrooms

Real Madrid did everything to ensure their players could fully focus on football in the United States. The club secured accommodation in a hotel belonging to one of the world's most luxurious hotel chains, "Four Seasons." The Royal Club placed its players in royal conditions about a hundred kilometers from Miami, in a hotel far from the city heat, crowds, and noise—complete with a private beach, where room prices can reach up to 8 thousand euros per night.

Upon arriving in Florida, Xabi Alonso and his players were greeted with pure luxury, but when it came time for training, Los Blancos were in for a shock. The Real entourage arrived at North Gardens County Park and found only football fields—nothing else. The location that was supposed to serve as a training base for the biggest club in the world lacked even basic conditions.

According to Marca, the club was stunned, especially since the travel planning and logistics department had visited the U.S. a year ago to ensure everything would be perfect upon the team’s arrival. However, in reality, after training sessions the players couldn’t even shower. There were no locker rooms, no bathrooms, and Marca claims even the fields were not up to the standards of an elite club.

Real's staff took matters into their own hands, beginning to improvise and adapt the site where they are to spend the group stage of the Club World Cup. Ironically, the same place is planned to serve as the official FIFA base for the upcoming 2026 World Cup—which only deepened the shock for the Real Madrid camp.

Real quickly realized they could only rely on themselves to improve conditions, so the club erected several temporary structures: tents, changing rooms, portable showers, ice baths for recovery and regeneration, and a mobile gym. In short, they built everything from scratch to replicate the environment of their Valdebebas training base in Madrid, where the team usually spends most of the season.

The 33-hectare park, opened in 2019, includes 10 floodlit fields that meet FIFA regulations. On paper, the pitch is newly renovated, high-quality, and equipped with rapid drainage systems—but in practice, it was a different story. While security around the fields was tight, the rest of the park remained open to the public.

It was an unpleasant surprise for a club used to flawless conditions, though it shouldn’t affect the team during the group stage, where they will face Al Hilal, Pachuca, and Salzburg on June 18, 22, and 27.

Still, this is a serious reason to question whether the organization of the upcoming 2026 World Cup will truly be up to standard.

FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP 2025

Matchday 1

Sunday

Al Ahly Cairo - Inter Miami 0-0

Bayern Munich - Auckland City 10-0 (6-0)

/Coman 6,21, Boey 18, Olise 20, 45+3, Muller 45,89, Musiala 67, 73 pen, 84/

PSG - Atletico Madrid 3-0 (2-0)

/Ruiz 19, Vitinha 45+1, Mayulu 87/

Monday

Palmeiras - Porto 0-0

Botafogo - Seattle 2-1 (2-0)

/Jair 28, Igor Jesus 44 - Roldan 75/

Monday

22:00: (1.20) Chelsea (7.75) Los Angeles (16.0)

Tuesday

00:55: (5.15) Boca Juniors (3.85) Benfica (1.70)

04:00: (1.35) Flamengo (5.20) Esperance (9.15)

19:00: (6.75) Fluminense (4.30) Dortmund (1.55)

22:00: (1.60) River Plate (3.90) Urawa RD (6.00)

Wednesday

00:55: (2.90) Ulsan (3.15) Mamelodi (2.55)

04:00: (5.90) Monterrey (4.00) Inter Milan (1.58)

19:00: (1.07) Manchester City (13.0) Wydad Casablanca (25.0)

22:00: (1.33) Real Madrid (5.90) Al Hilal (9.50)

Thursday

00:55: (2.85) Pachuca (3.35) Salzburg (2.50)

04:00: (12.0) Al Ain (6.50) Juventus (1.22)

***odds are subject to change***