FRISCO, Texas (AP) — No, a storm didn’t roll through Sweden’s base camp at the World Cup. It’s just a home renovation.
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The Swedes were taken by surprise seeing mangled metal and other demolished construction material on one side of Toyota Stadium — the home of MLS team FC Dallas — during their training session Wednesday night.
“I just thought, ‘what happened?’ As far as I knew there hadn’t been any storm,” Sweden midfielder Besfort Zeneli told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
Demolition is visible to the stands at Toyota Stadium, home of MLS soccer’s FC Dallas, as Sweden players participate in a training session ahead of their World Cup Group F soccer match against Japan, Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in Frisco, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Demolition is visible to the stands at Toyota Stadium, home of MLS soccer’s FC Dallas, as Sweden players participate in a training session ahead of their World Cup Group F soccer match against Japan, Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in Frisco, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Sweden goalkeeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt, left, and Sweden goalkeeper Viktor Johansson participate in a training session ahead of their World Cup Group F soccer match against Japan, Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in Frisco, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Demolition is visible to the stands at Toyota Stadium, home of MLS soccer’s FC Dallas, as Sweden’s Taha Ali, far right, tries to get to his head on the ball during a a training session ahead of Sweden’s World Cup Group F soccer match against Japan, Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in Frisco, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
That scheduled work, done earlier in the day before Sweden’s season, is part of a years-long renovation project at the stadium.
That area has been blocked off since before Sweden started using the stadium as its base camp after arriving in the United States in early June. The construction has had no impact on the pitch or any facilities being used by the team in Frisco, Texas, about 30 miles north of downtown Dallas.
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Still, that very visible demolition from the latest work caught some players by surprise when they arrived for training ahead of their final Group F match against Japan.
FC Dallas said in a statement Thursday that the work “was part of a planned and controlled demolition within an active construction zone. The work was conducted using a pull-down demolition method and did not involve explosives.”
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No one was injured.
The renovation project, being done in phases, began in early 2025 with full completion expected before the start of the 2028 MLS season. FC Dallas is still playing regular-season games there during the renovation.
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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here