SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - The U.S. Women’s National Team will finish its January training camp with a match against Chile on Jan. 27 at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara, Calif. (7 p.m. PT / 10 pm ET on TBS and HBO Max in English, Universo and Peacock in Spanish, and on the radio in English on Westwood One and in Spanish on Futbol de Primera).
The USA’s first training camp of the year will run from Jan. 17-27 at the Dignity Health Sports Park (DHSP) and the clash against Chile will cap a two-game set that will kick off the 2026 USWNT schedule.
As previously announced, the first match will take place on Jan. 24 at DHSP against Paraguay (2:30 p.m. PT / 5:30 p.m. ET on TNT, truTV and HBO Max in English, on Universo and Peacock in Spanish, on Westwood One radio in English and on Futbol de Primera radio in Spanish).
The match at the campus of UC Santa Barbara marks the first-ever international match for the USWNT on the Central Coast of California and just the second-ever match in the state of California being played north of Los Angeles and south of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Emma Says
“One of the goals of U.S. Soccer is to take our National Teams to new markets around the country, and I applaud that,” said U.S. head coach Emma Hayes. “Playing in a city for the first time is not a common occurrence at this point in our history so I know our players will enjoy being in beautiful Santa Barbara and our staff are really looking forward to January camp and these two matches against South American countries. This is the start of an important year for our team and as always, we’re focused on maximizing every minute we get with the players.”
Chancellor Dennis Assanis Says
“UC Santa Barbara is honored to host the United States Women’s National Soccer Team – one of the most successful teams in the world,” said Assanis. “We are proud to host an event that will highlight competitive excellence, energize and bring our community together, showcase beautiful UC Santa Barbara, and celebrate the next generation of athletes and leaders. We look forward to a memorable experience at Harder Stadium for the campus and the greater Santa Barbara communities."
History with Chile
Chile is ranked 45th in the world and fifth in South America behind Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Paraguay. The U.S. and Chile have met just three times, the first two in a pair of friendlies in 2018, which were also in California. The most recent meeting came during group play at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, a hard-fought 3-0 win for the USA in Paris, France.
The USWNT-Santa Barbara Story
While the Jan. 27 game will be the USWNT’s first-ever international match in Santa Barbara, the U.S. women have some history in the city that has a link to the first of USA’s four FIFA Women’s World Cup titles. The USWNT first held a training camp at UCSB in the fall of 1991 prior to leaving for the 1991 FIFA Women’s World Cup in China PR and played two exhibition games at Harder Stadium, including an extremely rare match for the USWNT against a collegiate side. The U.S. defeated a UCSB Women’s Soccer Team that was ranked in the top five in the country by a 10-0 score on Oct. 19 before downing a team of Southern California Women’s All-Stars the next day.