Galloway, N.J. — Why is one of the largest and most popular soccer teams in the world practicing for the FIFA Club World Cup at a regional public university in South Jersey?

“It all starts with the field,” said Anthony Berich, Stockton University’s executive director of Athletics and Campus Recreation. “This is where it starts.”

Berich referred to the Bermuda grass soccer field of G. Larry James Stadium, installed in 2021 by Tuckahoe Turf Farms in Hammonton. It’s the same type of grass that CR Flamengo, the most followed club in Brazil with more than 50 million followers on social media, practices on in Rio de Janeiro.

And it’s the same type of grass, also installed by Tuckahoe, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia where Flamengo will play Esperance Sportive de Tunis on June 16 and Chelsea FC on June 20.

“The field gives us a chance to host a worldwide event that we would never be able to do otherwise,” Berich said.

Flamengo will arrive on Thursday, June 12 and hold practice sessions that are closed-to-the-public and all university personnel at G. Larry James Stadium and the Sports Center until Monday, June 23.

“One of the great things about this for the university is that this is an opportunity to showcase our facilities,” said Jeff Haines, associate director of Athletics and Recreation. “We’re lumped in with the best soccer facilities and universities in the tri-state area. We’re a small Division III school in South Jersey, but we’re capable of hosting a major event like this.

“I can assure you that if we weren’t prepared and our facilities weren’t up to par, this team would not have selected us.”

Haines has been instrumental in arranging for Flamengo to practice at the university, but his idea originally started with a much bigger international soccer tournament — the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which is taking place in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

“In the summer of 2023, I was sitting in my office wondering how you get involved as a team base camp for the World Cup in 2026,” said Haines, who coached Stockton’s men’s soccer team from 1998 to 2015 and led the Ospreys to a national championship in 2001. “I called a couple of buddies of mine who are pretty big in US Soccer, and I asked what the procedure was.”

Once Haines mentioned that the university had a Bermuda grass field instead of artificial turf, like most of the universities in New Jersey, the conversation’s tone changed. Stockton also has hosted international soccer teams in the past. Saudi Arabia trained on the Galloway campus when the World Cup took place in the U.S. in 1994, and the Nigerian men’s soccer team practiced and lived on campus in 1996 before the Atlanta Olympics. The Nigerians went on to win the gold medal.

A few weeks later, representatives from FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, reached out to Haines and asked for a multimedia presentation showcasing Stockton’s facilities. Haines collaborated with Berich and Michael Angulo, Stockton’s chief officer for Government Relations, on the pitch. About six months later in the winter of 2024, Haines received an email from FIFA.

“I printed out the email, and I thought it said we’ve been selected for the World Cup in 2026, but the letter said the Club World Cup in 2025,” Haines said. “I was like, wait, what is that?”

FIFA dramatically expanded this year’s version of the Club World Cup to include 32 teams from all over the world. The email stated that Stockton would be included in a global, web-based brochure available to each of the teams as a potential team base camp site.

Over the next few months, Haines had some contact with various teams in the tournament, including Italian power Juventus FC, English Premier League standout Chelsea FC and Austrian team FC Red Bull Salzburg.

But it was an informal meeting with Flamengo the night of Friday, Dec. 20 that clinched Stockton as a host site.

“It was cold. It was damp. It was dreary. It was lightly raining. There was nobody here on campus,” Haines said. “The guys from Flamengo got a little bit lost, but once they found us, we turned the lights on and walked with them around the field. They were very, very friendly and excited to be here.”

The team representatives were not only impressed with the field, but also its close proximity to the Sports Center where the team could hold team meetings, and players could use locker rooms, get physical therapy and even shoot some hoops on the basketball court. Nearby Atlantic City International Airport and AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center were also selling points.

“They said, ‘Do you really want CR Flamengo to come here?’ I said, ‘Yes, of course,’” Haines said. “And they asked again because they really wanted it to be a partnership. They said Flamengo’s only going to be successful in the Club World Cup if Stockton and Flamengo work together as a family.

“So, we all hugged in the rain, and they canceled their planned trip to North Carolina to look at facilities there. They felt comfortable here. They said Stockton was very welcoming.”

Now, another six months later, the university is ready for the team’s arrival. Eight-foot-high temporary fencing has been installed around the sports complex to keep practices private, along with bright orange barriers filled with water in front of the fence for added security. The field and the Sports Center will be closed to nearly all personnel who aren’t associated with Flamengo. There will be a large police presence on campus, including New Jersey State Police, Stockton Police, Galloway Police and the Atlantic County Sheriff's Office.

The university’s preparations for this summer’s Club World Cup could lead to being selected as a team base camp by a national team for next year’s World Cup, Haines said.

“This is such an amazing opportunity for us to showcase the facilities that we have here for students who might want to come here and play,” Berich said. “If you come here to play soccer, you will play on the best grass field in the state of New Jersey. I don’t think there’s any question about that.”

— Story by Mark Melhorn, photos by Susan Allen and Lizzie Nealis