In recent years, Oliva Nova Beach & Golf Resort has hosted the training camps for numerous top-league and national teams who are now experiencing the dream of taking part in the biggest tournament on the planet.
Together with the Sports Manager of Oliva Nova, we explore the virtues of a football training camp with its sports facilities and premises.
Guillermo Mejorada
Sports Manager at Oliva Nova
“The combination of facilities, proximity to the sea and premium services attract teams from all over the world.”
An elite training camp at Oliva Nova Beach & Golf Resort is planned like a tailor-made suit: each team arrives with specific needs, and the work of Guillermo Mejorada and the coordination team involves adjusting right down to the last detail so they only have to worry about competing.
The resort’s Sports Manager explains that there is no such thing as a standard training camp. Each and every camp is planned uniquely and individually for each club or national squad, taking into account cultural, linguistic, and most especially nutritional factors. An American national team doesn’t eat the same as a Japanese or Qatari team, and that reality translates into specific menus, adapted timetables, and meticulously planned logistics.
A prior visit is almost an indispensable condition. The technical staffs tour the hotel, the Sports Center and the pitches to visualize what their daily routine will be like. From there on, training schedules, video rooms, recovery spaces and rest times are all arranged so that the environment is a competitive ally and not a distraction.
Although each federation has its own style and protocols, there is a common denominator that gets repeated in elite football: privacy and exclusivity. The national teams are seeking peacefulness, to get away from the spotlight, to train behind closed doors and to control when and how they open up to the press or the public.
Added to this competitive bubble, there are other non-negotiable requirements: high-level nutrition, comfortable rooms with beds that ensure optimal rest, and above all the quality of the grass pitches. “We’re talking about the best players from every country,” Guillermo Mejorada points out, “so the playing field has to minimize the risk of injury and enable the team to progress in its work with no setbacks.”
Many of the players at the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico first arrived at Oliva Nova as under-18, under-21 or under-23 players. Over the years, they have become the absolute best, which makes the resort a little ground zero of success stories.
Seeing them later in a championship of that magnitude, knowing that they have trained and lived together in Oliva Nova, is quite something for Guillermo and the whole team—kitchen, waiters, greenkeepers, marketing staff—a huge reward and confirmation that their silent, day-to-day work has a direct impact on the elite.
JAPANESE TIDINESS
Discretion is one of the fundamental principles in working with national teams, but there is an anecdote that we can tell about Japan’s under-18 team. After the image of Japan’s absolutely spotless changing room with a big thank-you note went viral at the World Cup, Oliva Nova Beach & Golf Resort was able to confirm that this was not an isolated gesture.
When the under-18 team shared facilities with three other teams, the contrast was clear: whereas it is usual after a match to find towels on the floor, empty bottles, bits of grass and a certain amount of disorder, the Japanese changing room was cleaner than when it was handed over to them, ready to use again with no need for a major clean-up.
NATURAL TURF
In an increasingly competitive market, Guillermo Mejorada emphasizes that the winning combination is a beachfront location with four natural grass pitches just a 12-minute walk away. This proximity reduces travel, helps with daily logistics, and allows the team to have everything at hand, from training to a recovery session walking by the sea.
In addition, Oliva Nova enjoys a privileged climate, especially in winter, which allows for training in shorts, while in other countries the cold restricts the workload possible and the quality of the grass.
NORWAY, BACK IN THE WORLD CUP
Norway has returned to the world stage almost three decades later, and on that path of sporting growth, Oliva Nova Beach & Golf Resort became one of the discreet but decisive settings for them to get ready.
The European team is returning to a World Cup in 2026 after 28 years without appearing in the final stages (since France ‘98), when it achieved what is so far its last participation and its best result when they got to the round of 16.
Their ticket to North America came with a brilliant generation led by Erling Haaland and Martin Ødegaard dominating their continental group, including a thrashing of Italy to demonstrate the Nordic team’s change in status.
This competitive leap has also been prepared away from the spotlight, in environments where the team can work calmly and with the highest level of demand, such as at Oliva Nova Beach & Golf Resort.
In Oliva Nova, Norway found the ideal site to fine-tune all the details. Over the last decade, more than 400 elite international teams have opted for these facilities for their pre-season or winter training camps, taking advantage of the competitive break in their home countries.
The pitches and Sports Center at Oliva Nova have hosted clubs such as Bayern Munich, Dynamo Kyiv, Borussia Dortmund and Steaua Bucharest, as well as national teams like Canada and Mauritania, and powerful rugby teams such as France, IRFU and Clermont, in addition to professional cycling teams like Etixx Quick Step, AG2R and Mitchelton-Scott.
Numerous footballers appearing at the 2026 World Cup have visited Oliva Nova Beach & Golf Resort in recent years.
