CHATTANOOGA — Spain has selected Chattanooga as its base camp for the 2026 World Cup. Bill Nuttall hosts the national team at his training camp in the city. Spain made its selection after Germany, the Netherlands, and Japan chose their camps in the U.S. The training base is located at Baylor School, a prep school situated five miles outside Chattanooga. The annual cost for the team to utilize the grounds is $70,000. Nuttall's granddaughters attend the school, and Chattanooga was included in the initial catalog of potential World Cup 2026 base camps.

Nuttall, 78, is a former goalkeeper and former general manager for US Soccer. He previously worked in marketing at Mitre. In 1988, the U.S. was awarded the 1994 World Cup. After the 1990 World Cup, Alan Rothenberg won the US Soccer presidential elections. Bora Milutinovic was hired as coach for the US national team, and Nuttall was hired as general manager. He helped build the team for the 1994 tournament.

The US national team trained in Mission Viejo, outside Los Angeles, for three years in preparation for the 1994 World Cup. During this period, the players were owned by the federation, and the team played international matches approximately every 10 days. The US reached the last 16 of the 1994 World Cup, where they lost 1-0 to Brazil. Nuttall departed US Soccer in the summer of 1994.

In 2015, Nuttall assisted in bringing the US women's national team to Chattanooga as part of their World Cup victory tour. As a goalkeeper in 1976, Nuttall saved a penalty kick taken by Pelé. He also coached Gerd Müller throughout his career. "I've got nothing else to do," Nuttall said.

Nuttall was 28 years old when he was released by the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. While playing for the Strikers, he worked as a coach at Florida International University in Miami. Ron Newman was the coach of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. Gordon Banks replaced Nuttall as goalkeeper for the team after Banks had been in a car accident. Nuttall also served as assistant coach under Cor van der Hart, who had previously been Rinus Michels' assistant. Gerd Müller, Nene Cubillas, Brian Kidd, Jan van Beveren, and Ricardo Villa all played for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. The Miami Toros later moved to Fort Lauderdale and became the Strikers, playing at Lockhart Stadium, which had a capacity of 19,000.