Kansas City will feature prominently on England’s wishlist for a World Cup base, Daily Mail Sport understands.
On Friday night, the FA will inform FIFA of its preferred travel plans for the tournament, which is being held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Following last month’s draw, Thomas Tuchel’s Three Lions learned that their group matches were to be played in Dallas, Boston and New York/New Jersey.
There were reports that Kansas City, which had been initially favoured thanks to its central location, had been placed on the backburner, with the majority of the games taking place on the East Coast. Indeed, the prospect of England ‘venue-hopping’, rather than using a base camp as has been the case in previous tournaments, was also raised.
However, it can be disclosed that the Missouri city is now firmly back on the agenda and could well host Tuchel’s squad for the entirety of their time across the Atlantic. The FA is understood to have sought the opinion of Harry Kane and the rest of the squad’s senior committee as part of its planning.
FIFA’s rules dictate that countries whose matches are close to cities are given first choice on the facilities with them. And there are two seeded teams who have a stronger case than England based on logistics. One of those is the Netherlands, who play one match in Kansas City and two in Texas, in Houston and Dallas. The other is Argentina.
Kansas City is set to feature high on England’s preference list for their World Cup base
The prospect of England ‘venue-hopping’ rather than having a base was raised as an idea
However, there are a number of hotels and training facilities in Kansas City which fit the bill. The city is home to a number of universities with practice complexes, along with NFL powerhouse the Kansas City Chiefs and MLS side Sporting Kansas City. As many as three nations could be based there, with England in the same city as Lionel Messi.
England will lodge a first choice and will then be made an offer by FIFA. Plans could change based on the response.
They will also make a call on where to stay beyond the group stages, although that could change based on where they finish, should they qualify. They may have to wait until the end of this month before they learn their fate.
The benefit of Kansas City is that its central location means that flight times to most of the potential venues are not too arduous or beyond three-and-a-half hours.
England have also gone to great effort at previous tournaments making a single base feel like a home from home for players, with a series of personalised touches, and would be keen to do so again.
The FA has been on a number of fact-finding trips to the US and has dedicated extensive attention to what is a highly complex situation and one not faced for some time, given the location of previous tournaments.
