World Cup 2026: The ÖFB is looking for an opponent for the test in California

On June 1st, Austria will test against Tunisia in Vienna and say goodbye to the home fans who will not be traveling to the World Cup. On June 4th, the ÖFB entourage takes off for Los Angeles and moves in Teambasecamp in Santa Barbara about a two-hour drive from L.A.

After a few days of acclimatization, there is one final test before the start on 17 June in San Francisco against Jordan. The ÖFB has already spoken to some nations as possible opponents, including Qatar, which is located around a kilometer away from the Austrians in Santa Barbara.

However, the test match also becomes a question of time. Qatar starts the tournament on June 13th and is therefore probably out of the question as an opponent. Austria would like to play on June 9th or 10th and therefore has to find an opponent who also starts the World Cup quite late.

That would be, for example, New Zealand, which lives in San Diego and meets Iran in Los Angeles on June 16th. It would also make sense that the game would be played in Los Angeles, which has several football stadiums (e.g. LA Galaxy). However, the World Cup stadium in Inglewood is out of the question as FIFA has already banned it for the tournament at this point.