Thomas Frank’s tenure peaked last year in only the second league game of the season when we went to the Etihad and outclassed City with a 2-0 win. From there, things got worse and worse and somehow worse again until it seemed that the Danish manager was just trying to 0-0 his way out of trouble. When Spurs finally sacked him, our season was down the toilet, and we were seriously fighting relegation. Say whatever you want about Tottenham, that’s not a position they should be in. Although there seemed to be mutual flirtation between the board and the thought of reuniting Mauricio Pochettino with a fan base that loves him so dearly, they decided to hand over the reigns to someone else to save the day and save the day he did.

Before I get into the exciting parts – I need to address the elephant in the room. What a win that was against Charlton! It was annoying not to get the clean sheet but excellent performance all round.

We’ve been terrible at the start of the new Premier League season. Two losses. 5 goals conceded. 0 scored. I am trying not to panic or anything just yet, but it’s hard not to. It’ll take time for RDZ’s football to come to fruition. I’ll stick with that and hope I’m not writing a similar article soon.

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I was really excited when De Zerbi took over. Having taken over from Graham Potter with Brighton, he made them one of the most exciting teams in the Premier League and pushed them to challenge for Europe. Piggybacking off the ideas that Potter had installed in the Seagulls, they went from a club whose sole focus was to remain in the league to playing more front foot, attacking football, and it has continued to thrive under the tutelage of Fabian Hurzeler.

De Zerbi demands a certain, high-energy focus to his play and he implemented small parts of that into the team towards the tail end of the year that was essential in retaining topflight football. He never got to fully express his ideas with the short amount of time he had to keep us alive, but with a full preseason under his belt, you can rest assured that he has hammered his ideas into this set of players and yet another new style of football will be coming to N17.

Although his football is far closer to Ange than it is to Frank, he does have his own quirks that stick out. Most obviously, is the way he wants and invites teams to come and press his side. His centre backs and goalkeeper will take, more often than not, an unnecessary amount of time starting the attacks. They will wait and wait until the other team starts to press before De Zerbi’s philosophy can come into full effect. His two holding midfielders will drop deep, nearly as deep as their defenders to draw their corresponding markers out of position. With this move they are options for quick pop passes that lead to quick transition. The idea is that when that double pivot drops in, they can receive the ball from the backline, use each other for a bounce pass and then fire the ball into the attacking players in the open space that was left by the other teams’ midfielders.

In simple terms, the buildup is slow, opposition gets impatient and presses, quick combination between defenders and midfielders, press broken and the immediate straight-line attack on goal is on. Rather than a Pep-like style where he wants to suffocate you with possession, De Zerbi wants the ball to manipulate you into a press so his players can find the open space and attack you directly. Without the ball, De Zerbi wants it back quickly. His team will press high, often with a simple backwards pass as the trigger and they will hunt in man-to-man scenario’s from there to win it back.

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He has high demands of his players, and clearly, of the board. He signed a five-year deal that will run until March 2031, which included a survival bonus and seemingly, an open cheque book for this summer. Before the season was over, Spurs had agreed deals in principle with Andy Robertson, Macos Sensi, and Martin Dubravka on free transfers from Liverpool, Bournemouth, and Burnley, respectively. From there, he decided that he wanted to bring in one of his trusted players from Brighton, John Paul van Hecke, for the lovely fee £52 million. After feeling confident of the defensive revamp, he went into the engine room of midfield to nab two highly sought-after central midfielders in Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes, with a combined fee of £185 million to boot. Oh, and he wasn’t done yet. Savinho, or as he has just asked to be called, Sávio, has just signed his contract on a £75 million fee, with another £10 million add on’s. Spurs’ biggest fault last year was the lack of goals and goal scoring opportunities, and the Italian manager is leaving nothing to chance with Omar Marmoush completing a double swoop from Manchester City and Cody Gakpo also being lined up before the transfer window closes. If the Gakpo deal goes through, Spurs overhaul would cost a pretty sum, north of £400 million.

Now, in my previous articles, I have been critical of the Spurs board for their lack of support for the managers. Although we seemed to spend money, it never looked like the money was going to the glaring areas of concern and left our squad weak and unbalanced. With these signings, Spurs have brought in Premier League proven players (at the back and in midfield), in areas of need. For the first time in God knows how long, it feels like we made the right signings at the right time. The signings are a big signifier of the football he wants to play. The two centre halves are two of the best in the league over the last few years at being strong defensively, while also having the quality to start the build up and be a focal point for everything the manager wants to do. Similarly, the midfield additions will bring in much versatility and progressive passing that we have been crying out for. Rather than players built into the mold specifically as a ‘6’ or ‘8’, Tonali and Fernandes can seamlessly transition through the different positions and transition the ball quickly to our attacking players.

As for the attacking signings, I think they leave a lot to be desired. Sávio is an exciting player, without a doubt, but his lack of finished product is worrying and for such a massive fee, the coaching staff will have their work cut out ensuring they can turn the Brazilian’s fortune around, in front of goal. However, he excels in one on one situations, with his pace and dribbling, he is a nightmare for defenders, so it makes sense why De Zerbi has targeted him from the start of summer and with the way he plays, the Brazilian international will have plenty of opportunities to show where he excels. Gakpo would be a strange signing, for many reasons. Firstly, I would be shocked if he wanted to leave Liverpool. Two years removed from a Premier League winners medal and playing consistent Champions League football, it seems like an odd choice. Secondly, he may be the most confusing, inconsistent player I have ever seen. One week he’ll get two goals and an assist and the next he’ll miss two sitters in a row. Maybe De Zerbi sees something he likes and something he could unearth but I just don’t think he has ever lived up to the hype that he brought from the Eredivisie.

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The signing I am most excited about is Omar Marmoush. Another player who brought so much hype with him when he joined City from Frankfurt, on the back of 20 goals and 14 assists in 26 games before making the move. Every time I have seen him play, he has excited me and I always thought Pep would eventually find a way to get him into the team on a regular basis. Unfortunately, it never happened for him, but his goal scoring and talent is still obvious to see. Maybe he suffered from the fact that he was seen as a striker, and nobody is getting that position on the blue side of Manchester until Erling Haaland says so.

De Zerbi identified our biggest weaknesses. A lack of defensive depth. Little control in midfield. Lack of firepower up front. He identified his targets and, for the first time in my 26 years on this planet, the Tottenham board allowed their manager to go get his targets. The profile of players suits his style excellently and I can’t wait to see how it pans out.

This is all brilliantly exciting for me and other Spurs fans, but it doesn’t come without its cons. Firstly, spending that much money, you need to make sure it works out. It backfired before, when Gareth Bale left to join Real Madrid, there was a host of new players in the door, with Christian Eriksen being the only one that really left his mark in North London. Secondly, De Zerbi doesn’t tend to stay in a job too long, his longest tenure being three seasons. So, if this season is about implementing his culture/style of play. Next season, maybe perfecting it or pushing on again and the third season we really go for it, does that mean he walks away after? Maybe it’s just before everything is properly coming together, he walks away? I really hope not. I hope he, at least, honors his five-year deal and we can see him implement his vision for the club’s future.

Whatever it looks like, I know this will take time. I don’t think we’ll be coming out and looking like a completely new side, all problems resolved. There will be growing pains. But, the summer has been a great sign of things to come. Signings, demanding manager, optimistic board, it looks good. Let’s just hope De Zerbi can implement a new mentality and culture at the club. Ange tried to, but that was under a different board. With this board and manager can we finally live up to the motto, To Dare is To Do?

“It’s a way for the rich to sneer at the ones they made poor,” he said, before explaining it meant Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain. The sneering and jeering in Irish media soon changed when a second ‘I’ was added and we Irish were being called slackers, lazy, and having ‘partied’.

Each of those countries in the ‘grouping’ took a right kicking financially and socially, none more so than Greece. And the noughties financial crisis hit on Greek football is only being overcome now, with her most famous club finally getting onto solid ground.

Ireland’s club?

The first and, until now, only Greek club to reach a European Cup/Champions League Final, and second to Piraeus’ Olympiacos in the national top flight titles stakes, Panathinaikos are easily the most recognisable and famous club from the cradle of civilisation. Their symbol, the shamrock, possesses an array of origin stories, though one seems most plausible.

The 1906 Intercalcated Games in Athens saved the Olympic Games. A decade after the renewal of the ancient Greek celebration of sports, arts, and culture, there had been two unsuccessful jamborees and great opposition from France’s Pierre de Coubertin to give the Greeks their due. The 1906 games were held over a short, precise period with great success and some controversy. Irishmen, competing under flags of other nations, were keen to show just where they came from.

Billy Sherring, of the St. Patrick’s Athletic Club in Hamilton, Ontario, was Canada’s representative in the marathon. Having scraped up the money to make the journey, including getting lucky with a filly named Cicely, he arrived two months before the games and worked as a porter at the central railway station in Athens. Pana club founders, Michalis Papazoglou and Georgios Kalafatis, were both keen athletes and the latter witnessed Sherring, with a large, green shamrock on the front of his vest, romp to gold. Both, through local legend, are said to have been inspired by Sherring.

And not just Sherring – Peter O’Connor, crudely robbed of gold in the long jump, objected to the Union Jack being raised as he was about to receive his silver medal. He scaled the flag pole, tore down the banner that offended him and put in it’s place the ‘Erin Go Bragh’ flag, which was replete with harp and shamrocks. Con Leahy, another Irish athlete forced through Olympic rules to compete for Britain, guarded the pole along with members of the US team. O’Connor won gold and Leahy silver a couple of days later in the triple jump. The Irish spirit was appreciated by locals who’d been playthings of empires.

A leading tour guide in Athens told me, the day I’d go see Panathinaikos play Paks of Hungary in the UEFA Conference League, “Ireland and Greece have always had a connection. So many of you fought for our independence, like [Richard] Church, [Gavin] Hamilton. It is not a surprise that the symbol of Saint Patrick would be on the [Panathinaikos] shirt.” In any case, it’s as probable as the other explanations.

Long time in the shade

It’s not a lie to say that Panathinaikos have recently been overshadowed by city rivals AEK and neighbours Olympiacos. Without a top league title in 16 years following a league-cup double in 2010, it was impressive that they could fill a third of the Olympic Stadium and that the fans were genuinely behind the team.

The late evening, 9:30pm, kick-off was welcomed as our Capital Sports crew took our places, as the day had been unrelentingly hot. Although, one fan on the bus to the ground said that it was “balmy” in the Greek capital. I took the joke well, I think.

Pana didn’t make it easy on themselves but showed a real fighting spirit to come back twice and draw 2-2, going through 4-3 on aggregate. A local radio journalist said that Jacob Neestrup has already had a positive effect on the side, bringing excellent experience from FC Copenhagen, with whom he won two Danish league-cup doubles. At the media conference afterwards, Neestrup was keen to play down expectations of glory-starved Pana followers, telling Capital Sports that if the club want to win [the Conference League] in May that they “need to perform in the here and now.”

It was a blunt, yet refreshing view from a man who seems to have eschewed manager-speak and answer questions directly. One of our Capital Sports crew noted that while it’s still the “honeymoon period,” he carries himself like a winner and someone “who is destined for bigger things.” And how much bigger can it be than bringing a Super League title back to the club before they begin a new life at their new home.

Building for the future

The club academy has produced notable talent, few greater than Giorgos Karagounis. The midfielder was on the Panathinaikos production line from 13 and went on to play with Inter Milan, Benfica, Fulham, and between sojourns in Portugal and England would return to Pana to win the double with them. He was one of the vital components that saw the Greek National Team flourish in the 00’s and win the 2004 European Championship.

Seven of the 23-man squad in 2004 were Panathinaikos players, with Karagounis and Takis Fyssas also having played for the club. ex-Croatia international Gordon Schildenfeld, said of his time at the club that, “You could see the talent everywhere [in the academy] and the fans were the most passionate you can imagine.”

Brazilian midfielder Mauricio, who won the Greek Cup with the club in 2022, said that Pana are “like a Brazil[ilian] club” in the way they are able to continually “bring new, young guys from their academy.” He did remark, however, that until the club can be based in one place long enough, it would be difficult for them to capitalise on “the thousands and thousands of fans.”

Following decades of false starts and necessary short-term fixes, Panathinaikos will move into their new home in Votanikos next year. The multi-sport venue will have a capacity just over 39,000 and allow the club realise their potential. As all of us who follow modern football know, at any level, if you can’t generate income on match days and have the opportunity to stage non-football events at your own ground, you are never going to truly have the stability and ability to compete for prizes. But that’s the next few steps.

Outlook for the season

Panathinaikos seem to like making it tough on themselves in Europe, the battle to beat Paks was followed by an extra time 3-2 win over CSKA 1948 of Bulgaria. They now need to get by Czechia’s Hradec Králové to make the league stage, though they made it tough on themselves after drawing the first leg 2-2 at home. They’ve spent well to bring in quality players and cover all fronts. Croatian Adriano Jagušić is a talent that, given playing time, will get a full cap by the end of the year and end up getting an 8-figure move to a Top-5 league. Iñaki Peña has arrived from Barcelona to offer security in the net, while Zambia’s Kings Kangwa and Trinidad and Tobago’s Levi García bring depth to the squad.

The ‘Shamrocks’ will finish higher than the fourth place which saw Rafa Benitez sacked at the end of last season. AEK have gone out and spent on quality additions, including dynamic Ukrainian Oleksandr Zubkov, though the 30-year-old might spend more time on the physio table than field. Croatia’s Lovro Majer came in from Wolfsburg, but despite being in his prime, he might not turn out to be the smash hit the champs are banking on. The biggest issue might be on the bench, with coach Marko Nikolic under severe pressure to follow up on winning the title in his debut season. At Lokomotiv Moscow he won the Russian cup, same at CSKA Moscow, but despite being a nice man and very good coach, he has a way of self-sabotaging that could see AEK not retain their title and him gone by Christmas.

I saw Olympiacos get bored to death on a boiling Tuesday night in Piraeus, then fall apart in Holland against NEC, but they’ve got Europa League football in the autumn. Nottingham Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis, has moved four players to his Greek outfit, three on loan. But overall, the team is weaker than last year, especially in goals after selling Greek international Konstantinos Tzolakis to Hull City. Spanish head coach José Luis Mendilibar won a domestic treble in 2025 and made history by leading the club to the UEFA Conference League title in 2024, the first European title for a Greek club. His breathing space is running out, according to local media, and Evangelos could be moving him on by October.

The other title contender, PAOK Thessaloniki, made headlines for responding to anti-Greek and anti-Russian chants, and the waving of distasteful banners and flags by Dynamo Kiev. While non-Greek media focused on PAOK fan’s Russian flags, they didn’t mention that PAOK’s owner, Ivan Savvidis, is a Pontic Greek [USSR-born] and that the fans didn’t take kindly to the abuse being hurled at him. They fell next time out to Anderlecht and will have to beat Brann Bergen of Norway to get into the Conference League phase, but domestically, they need to make waves. Johnjoe Jenny and Greg Taylor are going to be leaned on this season, as will Greek starlet Giannis Konstantelias. PAOK will make the Top-4, but their new boss might not be up to it. Having had nine permanent managers since 2015, Alessio Lisci might not make the end of the season, even more so if he does well in Europe.

Panathinaikos, therefore, have the best chance to give it a good rattle with this new coach. None of their rivals are, currently, looking out of reach and the club could be taking up residence in their new stadium as champions and with UEFA Champions League football to enjoy. Given their history and breaking ground for Greek football, it would be almost be poetic. And as someone who studied Classical Greek poetry in university, it would be worth seeing happen.

Since 1992, the English top flight has grown into a global behemoth, attracting the finest tactical minds from across Europe and South America. Yet, hidden beneath the glitz of the modern game lies one of the sport’s most baffling anomalies: in over three decades of Premier League football, an English manager has never won the title.

To understand the weight of this modern drought, one must look backwards. For over a century prior to the 1992 rebranding, home-grown tacticians were the undisputed architects of domestic dominance. They built dynasties, revolutionised tactics, and etched their names into the very fabric of the game.

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The golden eras of home-grown dominance

Before the influx of elite continental coaches – from Arsène Wenger and José Mourinho to Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp – the old First Division was a playground dominated by British minds. While Scottish legends like Sir Alex Ferguson, Matt Busby, and Bill Shankly rightly command immense reverence, English managers were equally instrumental in shaping the early and mid-20th century footballing landscape.

The early days of the Football League were heavily influenced by pioneers like Tom Watson, who secured five top-flight titles across spells with Sunderland and Liverpool in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Watson’s success laid the groundwork for future English tacticians, proving that rigorous organisation and tactical foresight could yield sustained periods of dominance.

By the 1920s and 1930s, the game was forever changed by Herbert Chapman. Managing Huddersfield Town and later Arsenal, Chapman claimed four top-flight titles. More importantly, he was a visionary. Recognised by the National Football Museum as a true innovator, Chapman introduced the famous “W-M” formation, championed the use of shirt numbers, and advocated for floodlit matches. He did not just win titles; he dragged English football into the modern age.

The pantheon of English tacticians

The post-war era brought further English success, largely characterised by grit, defensive solidity, and a distinctly physical style of play. Stan Cullis led Wolverhampton Wanderers through a golden period in the 1950s, winning three league titles and cementing Wolves as a feared entity both domestically and in early European friendlies.

However, no English manager stands taller in the domestic record books than Bob Paisley. Stepping out of the towering shadow of Bill Shankly at Liverpool, Paisley transformed a great team into an unstoppable machine.

During his quiet but ruthless reign in the 1970s and 80s, Paisley won a staggering six First Division titles. He remains the most successful English manager in top-flight history. Unlike the fiery touchline personalities of his contemporaries, Paisley’s genius lay in his immaculate man-management and clinical squad building. He created a benchmark of excellence at Anfield that, from an English perspective, remains entirely unmatched.

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The Wilkinson watershed and the modern drought

The narrative shift from home-grown dominance to the current drought is stark. The dividing line is the 1991/92 season, the final campaign before the First Division was rebranded as the Premier League. That year, Howard Wilkinson guided a resolute Leeds United side to the championship.

Wilkinson – a man who would later serve as Chairman of the League Managers Association (LMA) and heavily influence the creation of the St. George’s Park national football centre – built a squad defined by a spectacular midfield of Gordon Strachan, Gary McAllister, David Batty, and Gary Speed. His triumph was a masterclass in domestic management. Yet, at the time, nobody could have predicted that Wilkinson would become the answer to a thirty-plus-year trivia question: Who was the last English manager to win the top flight?

Since Wilkinson’s triumph, the Premier League has seen 32 seasons come and go. The title has been won by managers from Scotland, France, Portugal, Italy, Chile, Spain, and Germany. The globalisation of the league brought unparalleled tactical diversity and technical brilliance, but it simultaneously squeezed out English coaches from the most lucrative jobs. Top domestic clubs, backed by immense broadcast wealth, increasingly opted for proven international winners over home-grown prospects.

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Will the curse ever be broken?

Today, the landscape is slowly shifting. Modern coaching pathways and a revamped national setup have produced a new generation of English managers aiming to crack the glass ceiling. Figures like Eddie Howe have proven that English tacticians can thrive at the highest level, bringing modern pressing structures and analytical approaches to the Champions League spots.

Yet, bridging the gap from top-four contenders to title winners remains a monumental task. For fans and analysts heavily invested in the domestic game, tracking the progress of these home-grown managers is a weekly obsession. Whether followers are studying tactical shifts, examining xG data, or checking the latest English football and domestic sporting odds, the lingering question remains: who will be the man to finally emulate Howard Wilkinson?

Until an Englishman lifts the Premier League trophy, the legacies of Paisley, Chapman, Cullis, and Wilkinson will continue to serve as both a proud reminder of past glories and a glaring spotlight on a three-decade curse. They remain the undisputed titans of the English top flight—a pantheon waiting patiently for its next inductee.

Except it isn’t a once great musician we’ll be watching when the full performance comes out. It isn’t Walk the Line with Johnny Cash. It isn’t A Complete Unknown with Bob Dylan. Nor is it Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. It’s a set of men (perhaps less tortured). Eleven or eighteen, depending on how deep you want to go.

Lawlor is Rodin in many ways. He gets to sculpt a football team though, rather than mess with clay, terracotta and bronze. He gets to test his near-38-year-old mind on the finer points of EFL League Two football.

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Hiring him, or rather promoting him, in January 2026 on an interim basis was either a stroke of luck or a slightly exploitative manoeuvre given that Lawlor has been here before, post-Scott Brown (September 2023) and post-Charlie Adam (December 2024), albeit for a combined total of less than a fortnight and just two games.

The thing is, Lawlor brought more invention to the side in those two games than previous managers have over a full season. You could see it in the body language, the way the players ran out of the tunnel. No fear. Excitement.

The 2024 Boxing Day win over Chesterfield (2-0) courtesy of Matty Virtue and ‘crazy’ Kian Harratt may prove to be a lucky charm given the start to Fleetwood Town’s season in 2026/27 (Chesterfield in both cup and league).

And the Football League Trophy win (again 2-0) over Tranmere (5th September 2023) with the help of ex-greats, Jayden Stockley and Phoenix Patterson, aptly showed Lawlor to be a lover of free-flowing football.

In March of this year Fleetwood did the decent thing and appointed Matt Lawlor on a two-and-a-bit-years’ permanent contract. Always the ‘man in the building’ doing other things, a little like Matt Damon scribbling on the hallway chalkboard in Good Will Hunting, Lawlor seems to think differently.

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He has high standards too. Some of his post-match interviews, now a further 20 games in to his Fleetwood tenure, are carried out with the calm intensity of someone who is revelling in the limelight.

On the April 25, after the 2-2 draw away to Shrewsbury Town in the penultimate game of the 2025/26 season, Lawlor gave his most telling interview: “… Incredibly frustrated … controllable moments that we’re just gifting now… It’s becoming a habit isn’t it [drawing]… Pre-season …I’m telling you it won’t be like this… A terrible, terrible habit that…we need to crack…

“It must be a mentality that needs to flip. I’ve told them there’s been five or six years of below-averageness at this club, if I’m honest. And that’s really unkind of me, like, I know there’s a lot of hard work that’s gone into that, but it’s been a failing club for five or six years. It’s a reset. I’m telling you it’s a reset this summer…

“I’m gonna reiterate, I will work, staff will work, players will work as hard as anyone in this country. I’ll work everyone to make sure this gets right… Success always, always, always for me means winning. Always.

“You learn in training. You learn around the ground. I literally watch and think about everything. Like, I watch how they operate, how they eat food, how they interact with each other, how they interact with the public, how they interact with the fans. Everything matters to me. Everything.

“So if we’re gonna create the culture that I want to create, everything matters. And I learn every single minute of every single day. I’ve learnt a lot of positives.”

Lawlor is a man finally given his big chance, the highest professional position of his career, and he does not wish to have regrets. He does not wish to do a ‘Starmer’ – be full of U-turns and small dabs to the canvas. In his expression, we hear the roar of desire and craving, yearning and thirstiness.

He is keen to prove his theorem to others, to map out a blueprint that Fleetwood hasn’t seen since John Sheridan and Joey Barton, circa 2018 to 2020. His core players, the old boys, are Jay Lynch, Danny Andrew, Shaun Rooney, Ched Evans and Ronan Coughlan. But it is the never-been-here-before players who need to excite and show steadfastness if this rocket is to reach orbit.

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It is 30-year-old Andy Cannon (formerly of high-achieving Wrexham), 25-year-old Kane Thompson-Sommers (the MK Dons midfielder and Bristol Rovers loanee), soon-to-be 24-year-old striker Josh Thomas (former Wales under-21 speed merchant) and young defender Jake Batty who must help form a new spine.

Bed these in with the promising youth (Crispin McLean, Raff Cirino, Conor Haughey – all just 19 years old) and Fleetwood would seem to have hunger and talent in abundance. And that’s before we discuss the importance of midfielders Mark Helm, Harrison Neal and Lewis McCann.

Lawlor knows he has a leaner squad now, however. He knows that any injury is critical. Take Haughey and his mere 10 minutes of pre-season football before sustaining a knee injury. Haughey, the young man who thrived last season when given the opportunity to display great leadership at centre half.

Hearing Lawlor talk is surely a fillip for anyone though. There is a wariness and prudence to him (the bags under his eyes testament to this) – yes – but bursting out forcefully is the joy of managing a team, a squad of players, who may just inherit his high standards and believe that FTFC can finish in the top seven and earnestly dabble with promotion.

It would be fitting and fantastic if only to other clubs’ men in the building who often get overlooked. Lawlor has a lot to prove, but it’s extremely evident that he’s here to shake things up in his first full season, rather than whimper and follow the last half dozen years.

At one stage of the 2026 World Cup, Argentina could have been blamed for economic uncertainty, energy prices, climate change, Pique cheating on Shakira, and the death of Mufasa. No matter the winning mentality, no matter the seizing of big moments. No matter the eternal inevitability of that chap from Rosario, it had become about always finding a way to tear something else down, rather than focus on something admirable.

Well, this is the age of social media, with over 17 billion impressions during the World Cup. That’s quite a lot of tweets, reels, mud-slinging and self-anointed analysts, sticking their swords into anyone they could reach from their armchairs. And most often their pointed tips reached for Luis Scaloni’s band of villains. Painted as cheats, hooligans and any other dart used to pin on the South Americans- this tournament allowed people to justify the stereotypes

​With AI-generated videos, fake images and conspiracy theories spreading rapidly online, the importance of fact-checking, avoiding mob-mentality and just trying to hang out with people who had a basic knowledge of sport not toxic hype, were now more important than ever to cut through the noise.

But let’s not remove emotion completely from the palette. We can’t paint a masterpiece if we’re using safe and dull colours. We need to unleash some emotion. As British writer and sociologist David Goldblatt aptly puts it in his brilliant book The Age of Football: “Certainly, there is no shortage of irrational, myopic, deluded and obsessive behaviour in the football world.” But just as significantly: “Football is often a distraction; in some ways that is the point.”

And so, to a mouth-watering prospect of a final, and what was your poison? What emotion would you be consumed with?  Argentina. What a team. Hard and resilient. Ready for a dog-fight. Never ever, ever, ever giving up. Hunting in packs. Ready to dismiss haters. Messi, Messi, Messi.

Spain. What a team. Luis del la Fuente’s vertical positional play- possession with purpose. Explosive wingers, faster tempo and aggressive pressing. All on the back of technical freedom meaning there are no rigid positions. It starts with a slow circulation then some vertical passing. Before you know it there are some quick exchanges and then an immediate attack.  Boom- you’re dead. This was quite simply a modern evolution of the tiki-taka days of a decade ago.

​In the end, the best team won the tournament. And the final wasn’t even close. Spain had 65% possession and completed twice as many passes as their opposition. They also had 20 shots to Argentina’s one, making sure the reigning champions offered no attacking threat. Despite finishing 1-0, it was arguably one of the most statistically dominant performances ever seen in a World Cup final. Argentina lost their cool. They couldn’t keep up. They won man, not ball. And let more stereotypes take over.

The problem with this, and all of the other moments building up to the brute physicality that accompanied their game- is that it took away from Spain’s genius. Still, La Roja etched their way into history. The first team ever to win the Euros and then the following World Cup on two separate occasions. Class.

The biggest viral moment of this World Cup wasn’t a goal. It was a 19-year-old photograph of Lionel Messi holding baby Lamine Yamal, just days before the two faced each other in the final. Before and after the game, they embraced. A symbolic moment and passing of the torch. Messi, having given his all at 39, his mortality on display, hugging the would-be successor to the throne.

The Argentinian left the field, having broken many World Cup records. The oldest scorer of a hat-trick, the longest scoring streak ever, the most goals from outside the area, the most assists in the knockout phase. Yet, the team always wins, and Lamine the Dream, who may not have had the best tournament, was the one who got to stay on the field. And take in the post-match celebrations with football’s ultimate prize. Messi will always have Qatar. Who knows how many other tournaments Yamal will conquer.

One could argue these were the best two teams in the tournament. Yet that is also harsh on France and England who possessed their own beauty. Look at the 3rd and 4th place play off. No longer shackled, each team allowed to unleash their attacking capabilities. These are the top 4 ranked teams in the world for a reason. And any of them being in the final would have been justified. Those are the fine margins in football. And WC semi-finals generally hand on a knife-edge, which could have gone either way.

And the rest of the tournament? Where to begin? A first World Cup with 48 teams. A first for Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan. The most red cards ever (15) and goals scored (313). Fine, there were more games, but that meant more action, more drama. More reason for online, studio and bar opinions. The emotion.

Records and history continued to be made. Cristiano Ronaldo was the first ever player to score in six different tournaments. Kylian Mbappe became the all-time top scorer. This edition also attracted over 6 million spectators, surpassing the previous record set in the US in 1994. This was the first ever tournament to be hosted by three nations and Mexico are the first ever country to have hosted 3 different World Cups.

Post match crowd celebrations brought fans closer to their players. Norway led the way with their Viking Row ritual. England belted out cult favourite Wonderwall and France synchronised clapping. Japanese fans even stayed behind after their players left, to clean the stadiums.

Ghana’s witch doctor went viral and made predictions that were less than desirable, stating that Cape Verde would knock Argentina out and that Portugal would win the World Cup. Still, the power of the mystical and unknown made no one question him, until after matters panned out.

Hydration breaks were cursed at within homes and booed within the stadiums. As sponsors licked their lips, players and staff recuperated around tactics, digital devices and the urge to find ways to improve play. Rumour has it they also drank water.

With many actors, musicians and sports stars hailing from the US, the celebrities gathered in the crowd at many a game. From David Beckham’s influence on the MLS to Hollywood embracing football through the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell and Natalie Portman, the game has spread to this continent with the World Cup stitching all the fever together.

Perhaps it was a plethora of hate and trolling on social media. But then again, people were engaged online. And the World Cup still mattered. What a time to watch football- even if the time differences were a little ridiculous for many a fanatical nation. And if things go FIFA’s way, which they almost always do, there could be 64 teams at the next one.

That’s a lot of hydration breaks.

Without further ado, read on as we take an early look at each of the four top divisions in England, starting with the Premier League.

Manchester United fancied to topple Arsenal

The ante-post market for the Premier League paints an intriguing picture for people who are inclined towards wagering on professional football.

The latest online sports betting market rates Arsenal as the 6/4 favourites to win the English top flight title for the second consecutive season.

However, only Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City have successfully defended the title since the Premier League was launched in 1992.

The Gunners were fortunate that several of their main rivals underperformed last season and are unlikely to be afforded the same luxury this time around.

Manchester United improved massively under Michael Carrick after he replaced Ruben Amorim as manager and they are a good bet at odds of 13/2 to topple Arsenal.

Mowbray can improve Blackburn’s fortunes

Blackburn Rovers’ fall from grace under owners Venky’s has been distressing to watch for fans of one of the English Football League’s founder members.

They narrowly avoided relegation to League One last season, with points deductions for other clubs the only thing keeping them in the second tier.

However, the decision to appoint Tony Mowbray for his second spell as manager could be the catalyst for a change in their fortunes.

Mowbray was a popular figure during his first stint in charge and knows what it takes to build a successful squad in the Championship.

With the play-offs expanding from third to eighth place next term, Rovers could be worth chancing to secure a spot in the post-season shoot-out.

Luton are the value bet in League One

After failing to secure an immediate return to the Championship last season, Luton Town are rated as 8/1 shots to win the League One title this time around.

They improved significantly after Jack Wilshere was appointed manager last October, ending the season with an impressive 11-match unbeaten run.

They ultimately missed out on the play-offs by one point, but look a good bet to mount a strong promotion challenge this season.

Wilshere secured his first managerial trophy by guiding Luton by leading the club to a 3-1 victory over Stockport County in the Vertu Trophy final at Wembley Stadium in April.

He recently rejected an approach from Leicester City to remain with Luton and that decision could prove to be a shrewd one at the end of the campaign.

Walsall can make it third time lucky

New Walsall manager Lee Grant has been tasked with reviving a club that has had two promotion challenges implode after leading League Two in each of the last two seasons.

The 43-year-old previously served as a forwards’ coach during Ipswich Town’s back-to-back promotions and most recently managed Huddersfield Town.

Grant has already made some shrewd summer signings including centre-back James Connolly, who signed a two-year deal following his departure from Crewe Alexandra.

Connolly joins midfielders Sven Sprangler and Lewis Simper along with forward Andy Dallas at the Midlands club for next season.

Odds of 11/2 to win promotion are a tempting proposition given that Walsall are expected to make further signings before the transfer window closes.

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Germany’s penalty kick success came from emotional control, suppression of fear, internal discipline and belief in inevitability. Penalties were the moment when Germany’s national football character, the myth of German football steel, became visible in its purest form. And then, after one of the hardest-fought matches ever for the German Eleven, with Rummenigge hobbling off the bench injured to score and Klaus Fischer hitting the overhead kick he’d rehearsed his whole life, Stielike misses.

He falls to the ground, face in the grass, sobbing, covering his face in shame. The two players who pick him up from the ground, Toni Schumacher and Pierre Littbarski, console him. The rest of the team seemingly stands frozen, as if Stielike has broken a sacred oath. You could feel the tension through the screen. Some of the German players looked as if, in another era, they’d have delivered a merciful coup de grâce.

Then Schumacher does the impossible and saves two penalty kicks. He shakes his fist in the air defiantly at the French while nodding to his teammate Stielike, as Littbarski, holding Stielike up,  jumps around joyously, and suddenly the entire emotional order of the team snaps back into place. Stielike is “redeemed,” the shame is forcibly wiped clean and the old German football myth reasserts itself. That’s why that moment is unforgettable. It wasn’t just football, it was a Wagnerian ritual of death and resurrection, only without the grail, because Paolo Rossi and Italy walked off with that later.

Today, if a German player misses a penalty, he posts a smiling apology on Instagram and gets a “stay strong bro” reply from the federation account. It’s just a different time and a different society. The Stielike moment belongs to a Germany that no longer exists, literally, as he was on the West German team, the most successful national soccer program of the Cold War era.

I’m arguing that German football can be framed as a sociological arc. And Germans, please, I am arguing as a Germany and Mannschaft-lover myself, take a look at my last name, OK? Ich kann Deutsch sprechen, obwohl ich in Chicago geboren wurde.

As West Germany, it was a nation that played with existential urgency because it had existential urgency. From 1954 to 1990, West Germany’s greatness came from a lineage of leaders who embodied the same national goal and desire: Fritz Walter’s postwar stoicism, Uwe Seeler’s relentless will, Franz Beckenbauer’s imperial calm, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge’s heroic defiance, Lothar Matthäus’s cold authority… different generations but the same fire.

Every generation carried the weight of a divided nation, the burden of history and the need to prove something to the world. That pressure forged football steel. In ten World Cups they produced three World Cup Championships, and they reached the top four teams eight out of ten times.

The great, proud moment of national relief, unification in October 1990, was also the moment the fire starting going out. The unified German team has been technically competent but spiritually hollow. Sterile possession, no incisiveness, no hunger, no risk, little fire in their belly. There have been flashes since reunification, but they have come largely from players who did not grow up inside the comfortable, post-historical German mainstream, from immigrants and children of immigrants who still had something to prove.

But, the whole point of this essay is that this is a good thing. This is a positive thing for Germany. This version of the German team is clearly the most diverse looking team in its history. It has amazing diversity. Gut gemacht, Vaterland! That is definitely something to be proud of. Be more proud of this than whether you win some lousy soccer game in a lousy FIFA tournament.

Indeed, the Özil/Khedira/Boateng era briefly brought back that chip-on-the-shoulder energy. But once those players became symbols of a relaxed, cosmopolitan, self-satisfied Germany, even that edge softened. A nation that no longer needs football to express its honor to the world will never again produce a team that plays as if its life depends on it. That is, in many ways, a good thing. Yes Germans, please, I am saying it is a good thing.

The reasons for the team’s extraordinary excellence from 1954 to 1990 were geopolitical and clearly not sustainable beyond unification. It is time for fans of the Mannschaft to come back down to earth and recalibrate their expectations, especially after the team was knocked out of three successive World Cups by South Korea, Japan and Paraguay.

The joke among my football buddies is that this World Cup was expanded as a thank-you to the German teams of the past, to ensure there is enough weak opposition in the first round to help the German Eleven advance this time. (I chastised them for saying that! „Zeigt doch etwas Respekt für die frühere Spitzenleistung!“) If you remove the Turkish-origin striker Deniz Undav, elimination might have been a distinct possibility anyway.

The 1954 World Cup victory was a symbol for an entire society. Germany had been a despised nation in Europe because of World War II and had been banned from international sports immediately afterward. The 1954 World Cup was their football team’s first real chance to prove themselves and show that Germany was back on the world stage in a meaningful and constructive manner.

Through the fierce dedication and raw will shown by its footballers (and possibly steroids, courtesy of a team doctor who said it was Vitamin C injections, leaving eight players, after the tournament, with severe jaundice and two ultimately dead from liver cirrhosis), the team represented a moral resurgence. The German people celebrated their return to the world stage. The war was behind them, the Nazis had been punished and there was new leadership and a new direction. The victory represented a kind of Year One.

The unbeatable 1990 team with Matthäus, Voeller, Klinsmann, Brehme and the other stars, was, basically, a West German team. After 1990, we switch from a West German to a unified German team. This is when things change forever. This is when German football begins to suck a bit. It seems to suck a bit now. They couldn’t beat Ecuador or Paraguay in 2026.

In 1994, Bulgaria eliminated Germany. In 1998, it was Croatia. In 2002, they fielded a weak team blessed with an easy schedule that was manhandled by Brazil in the final – take Oliver Kahn out of the picture and the humiliation would have come earlier. In 2006, they rode a wave of euphoria as hosts, getting the usual boost home countries can expect from FIFA, but crashed out to Italy. Coach Klinsmann’s refusal to start Kahn looked, to many of us, like an ego thing; with Kahn, they might have won 2006. Kahn was a throwback, with fire in his belly.

In 2010, they played an anemic match against Spain and went out. In 2014, all the pieces finally fell together, but the title still hinged on a fluke: a sensational goal by a player who had been mercilessly mocked by a rival German club’s fans as a “fat fairy.” In 2018, they were bounced by South Korea, a team with fire in its belly. In 2022, they were bounced by Japan, another team with fire in its belly.

In 2026, they conceded an equalizer to Curaçao before going berserk and running up the score to humiliate an island nation, which was not humiliated at all, but proud to have equalized. They then barely beat Ivory Coast thanks to the Gerd Müller-like efforts of a striker of Turkish background, Deniz Undav. They lost to Ecuador. Did I mention Paraguay?

Once again, a player from outside the comfortable German mainstream was carrying the team, as much as he could. Basically, lovers of the Mannschaft: your team became softer because your history stopped hurting. And that’s a good thing! The players who still resemble the old West German archetype, the ones with something to prove, with pressure in their lives, have been trying to save the program, but it’s been an uphill battle.

So what is the solution? There is none. You don’t need a solution, the situation is quite good! The Germans had a reason to be the greatest team in the world from 1954 to 1990. A different reason resurfaced briefly around 2010, but that was contingent and unstable. Brazil and Argentina are perennial favorites because they still draw from a struggling working class that produces players with that fire in their bellies and something to prove. South Korea and Japan carry the weight of Asian expectations…it’s all about desire.

History and sociology fueled German football’s desire, and certain inspirational players tapped into this and created something extraordinary. A unified and integrated Germany, where immigrants are increasingly welcomed into the dominant culture, will continue Germany’s social progress but, perhaps, may not ensure the football success of the Cold War past.

So let’s all celebrate “sucky” German football, it is a manifestation of how Germany continues to change for the better. Ein Prosit, ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit! Here’s a toast to you Germany, and to your future!

But, let’s also be honest, and as an American guy I would be remiss in not mentioning this: German soccer folks and fans have openly mocked American soccer/football for a long time. There is a concept called karma, my German football lovers. To a certain generation of football fans outside of Europe, there might be an undeniably delicious irony in this collapse, a feeling of “karma has a flawless memory.” I don’t feel this way, but I’m just saying…I think it’s called Schadenfreude.

For decades, American soccer was a frequent punchline for German players, fans and pundits alike, dismissed with a smirk as a secondary sport in a nation that just didn’t “get” the beautiful game. So, watching a powerhouse nation that once mocked American footballing culture slide into its own era of stagnation might also be perceived as a cosmic balancing of the scales. I prefer the sociological approach.

But, in a sport where arrogance is a dangerous currency, watching a giant stumble against teams they once would have brushed aside proves that what goes around eventually comes back around. If you spent years teasing others for not being part of the global elite, it turns out that losing your own competitive edge might bite a little harder. Die Mannschaft…you blew three penalty kicks against Paraguay.

Es tut mir leid, ich konnte nicht widerstehen. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

Prior to 1992, the Japan Soccer League (JSL), beginning in 1965, was the top competition for clubs in the country to compete in, though it was largely an amateur league, with clubs being backed by a major corporation, and the players being employees. This system was shattered in 1992, with the formation of the J. League, as 8 of the JSL’s first division clubs, 1 from the second division, and a newly formed club, came together to bring Japan its first ever professional football league. The inaugural season would come soon after, beginning in 1993, and history was made on the 15th of May as Yokohama Marinos took on Verdy Kawasaki to kick it all off.

1992 was also significant for Japan’s football growth as they hosted the AFC Asian Cup at the end of the same year, winning their first ever title against Saudi Arabia in the final, as the country saw success for the first time prior to the new league even beginning, and the national team was already making small steps to becoming what we now see as a world class side.

It was an instant sensation, with the domestic popularity booming, while international attention was attracted with the signing of foreign stars to J. League clubs, such as Gary Lineker who ultimately retired in Japan, and Zico, who came out of retirement to play for Kashima Antlers. However, following its initial success, there was a significant decline in interest, brought about alongside economic turmoil in the country, which urged those in charge of the league to reevaluate their plans and find new ways to develop the game in Japan.

Two key solutions were brought about by this re-evaluation, the first of which was the J. League Hundred Year Vision, a long-term plan that set a goal to reach by 2092, which will be the league’s 100th season, in which they aim to have 100 professional clubs in Japan. The second solution was massive restructuring of the J. League, expanding the top division to 16 clubs, and the launch of a second division in 1999 containing 10 clubs.

The late 2000s brought about further development for Japanese football, with the top division expanding to 18 teams in 2005, but more importantly, the importance of the AFC Champions League rising in Japan. Until this point, Asia’s Champions League hadn’t been the focus of clubs in the nation, though in 2007, Urawa Red Diamonds became the first J. League side to win the competition, and Gamba Osaka became the second the following year. In 2009, AFC would award the J. League the honour of the highest ranked league in the continent, securing 4 spots in the Champions League for the country.

2014 would then see the introduction of the J. League’s third division, and 10 years later, after a multitude of changes to the football pyramid’s structure, Japan would settle on a structure containing 3 professional divisions, each with 20 teams. The country is now undoubtedly considered one of, if not the top league in Asia, with only Saudi Arabia capable of comparing.

Recent years has seen a number of stars come out of the J. League and move to Europe, with some examples including Kaoru Mitoma, who signed for Brighton from Kawasaki Frontale, and the set of successful players who joined Celtic (Daizen Maeda, Kyogo Furuhashi, and Reo Hatate), during the leadership of former Yokohama Marinos manager Ange Postecoglou.

The growth of the J. League has been hugely impactful for the improvement of the country’s national team, as although their first attempt to qualify for the World Cup with professional players failed in 1994, their second attempt in 1998 saw them qualify for the first time in their history. The nation would go on to lose all of their matches in the group stage, though with a tough group that involved Argentina, as well as Croatia and Jamaica, qualifying was seen as enough of a step to show progress.

The creation of a strong league allowed for children in Japan to grow up hoping to play for local clubs which they were seeing grow before their very eyes, and the dream of winning major trophies with a team from their own town or city felt possible. Youth academies began to produce top talents that transformed the Japanese national team into a serious contender for continental tournaments, regularly able to win the top competition of Asia.

Going into the 2000s, the national team struck new ground, much like its domestic league, bringing back the Asian Cup for the second time in their history in 2000, then going on to co-host the 2002 World Cup, along with South Korea. They would then make it out of the group stage for the first time, exiting the competition in the Round of 16 against Turkey, and have qualified for every World Cup since, making it to the knockout rounds on 4 occasions. However, Japan is yet to make it to the Quarter Finals, something they will certainly be aiming for in this year’s iteration of the tournament.

Japan has stood out in Asia due to their focus on youth development, they are no longer reliant on importing aging stars from across the globe and are instead turning their own players into desirable talents wanted by top clubs in Europe. They have managed to separate themselves from many other top countries in Asia in this regard, as leagues such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar may have bolstered their domestic league’s popularity with the introduction of world class players at the end of their careers, such as Xavi, Sadio Mane, and of course Cristiano Ronaldo, yet they aren’t seeing any improvements at international tournaments, as the fans are following these players instead of the clubs themselves. How can you expect young fans to grow up wanting to play for their country, when the players they watch in the stadiums have been brought in from elsewhere?

By massively investing in its domestic league, Japan has evolved overtime in every aspect of the game, from its grassroots infrastructure that have allowed youth academies to flourish as the culture grows, to the prominence of Japanese players in top leagues across the world. They have proven that through extensive planning and investment into supporting a strong football culture, all levels of football can see positive outcomes, whether it be at a club level in the top division, a local amateur level among community-based teams, or the national team that the whole country backs, change is possible if systems are brought it to support it, and Japan have set an example that more countries need to take note of, and follow suit,

Fresh from securing top spot in their group thanks to a 2-0 victory over Panama at MetLife Stadium, the venue that will also host the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, Thomas Tuchel’s side have strengthened their credentials to go the distance.

However, while England will hope to return to New Jersey for the showpiece, many supporters have questioned FIFA’s decision to stage the final at MetLife, with the stadium attracting criticism throughout the tournament. England vs DR Congo Odds examine the latest prices ahead of Wednesday’s knockout clash.

Why fans turned on MetLife

Start with the pitch. MetLife normally hosts the New York Giants and Jets of the National Football League (NFL), and its artificial turf carries a grim reputation. Players call it the ‘MetLife curse’ after a run of serious injuries, including Giants receiver Malik Nabers tearing his anterior cruciate ligament there. A temporary grass pitch went down for the tournament, but it hasn’t won everyone over. France midfielder Adrien Rabiot called the surface “hard and quite rigid”, and said it felt “more like an artificial surface”. MetLife was one of eight host venues that swapped artificial turf for a temporary grass pitch, so the surface was clearly a known concern.

Then there’s getting there. The ground sits in the Meadowlands, around five miles from Manhattan with no real walk-up, and one report found a Penn Station round-trip that usually costs about $13 going for roughly $98 during the tournament. Drive in and the car parks swallow the approach. Walk, and you can’t. The mood hasn’t helped. Fans have branded it “soulless” and “one of the worst in the country”.

Where fans would rather send it

Four grounds keep coming up as the venue supporters would swap it for. Each brings something MetLife can’t.

Estadio Azteca

Mexico City’s grand old ground is the only one to have staged two World Cup finals, in 1970 and 1986, and in 2026 it becomes the first to host matches at three men’s World Cups. Diego Maradona and Pele both lit it up, it still holds 83,000, and fans call it a football cathedral. The snag is the altitude. At 2,200m the thin air drains the legs and carries the ball further, the place is showing its age, and it’s hosting the opener this time, not the final. It only reopened this year after a lengthy refit, and runs under a different name for the World Cup.

AT&T Stadium

Dallas was the runner-up for the final, and the appeal is obvious. It led the bidding for a while before MetLife pipped it. AT&T hosted England’s first game of their World Cup campaign, where they beat Croatia 4-2 in a display that rocked the UK football odds. The stadium holds up to 94,000, the biggest of the lot, and its retractable roof and air-conditioning would shut out the July heat and any summer storms. It also stages more games than any other venue, a semi-final included. The catch is the setting, 17 miles from downtown Dallas, so it’s hardly a stroll from the city.

SoFi Stadium

SoFi opened in 2020 and, at a reported $5.5 billion, is the most expensive stadium ever built, with supporters rating it among the best anywhere. It needed a temporary grass pitch laid over its usual surface for the tournament, and its capacity is smaller than MetLife’s, but on looks and atmosphere it’s hard to beat.

Lincoln Financial Field

The home of the Philadelphia Eagles, known as ‘the Linc’, has one thing the turf venues can’t match: a permanent grass pitch, so no temporary surface to worry about. It’s loud, it has character, and unlike the New Jersey site, it actually feels like a football ground. The catch is size, as it’s the smallest of these contenders.

The verdict

The fans have a point on feel and surface. MetLife can come across as a corporate bowl in a car park, the pitch questions are fair, and at 82,500 it isn’t even the biggest stadium in the running. But FIFA isn’t shifting the final now. Soulless or not, on 19 July MetLife gets the showpiece, and the row will rumble on long after the trophy goes up.

The 2026 World Cup is the largest edition of the tournament ever staged: 48 nations, 104 fixtures, spread across 16 cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. England are among the sides travelling with genuine expectations, and fans following England top goalscorer betting will already have views on who carries the goal threat in the squad. With so many contenders across the draw, football odds reflect just how open the competition looks heading into the group stage.

In this article, we look at everything the FIFA Fan Festival offers in 2026, and why it might be the best way to experience the World Cup without a ticket.

What is the FIFA Fan Festival?

The FIFA Fan Festival is the official fan hub of the World Cup, running throughout the tournament in host cities across all three nations. FIFA describes it as “the central fan destination” of the 2026 edition, a free-to-enter space built around live match screenings, music, local food, and entertainment.

It’s aimed at fans who don’t have match tickets and at local communities in each host city. The concept has been part of the World Cup since Germany 2006, and it’s run at every tournament since, South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014, Russia 2018, and Qatar 2022 all had their own versions.

Where are the Fan Festivals in 2026?

There are 14 official FIFA Fan Festival sites across the three host nations. In the USA, festivals are confirmed in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, and Philadelphia. Canada hosts sites in Toronto and Vancouver, while Mexico’s three festivals are in Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Monterrey.

New York/New Jersey and Los Angeles also have separate host city events running alongside the official programme, giving fans in those areas additional options beyond the festival sites.

Do you need a ticket?

Entry to the Fan Festival is free. No match ticket is required – you turn up, and you’re in. Specific entry requirements and any registration details may vary by city, so it’s worth checking the official FIFA Fan Festival pages at FIFA.com for the most current information before you travel. Details were correct at the time of writing but may be subject to change.

What’s on?

Every match in the tournament is screened live on giant outdoor screens, which means you can follow England’s group stage campaign, the knockout rounds, and the final without stepping foot in a stadium. Alongside the football, each festival features a music and entertainment programme running throughout the tournament, as well as food and drink from the local area.

The atmosphere draws a mix of travelling supporters and local fans, which gives each site its own character. Mexico’s festivals in particular carry a football culture unlike anywhere else in the host nations – the passion in Guadalajara and Mexico City tends to speak for itself.

Why it works

The Fan Festival has earned its place in the World Cup calendar over two decades. It gives fans who can’t afford or access match tickets a genuine way to be part of the tournament – not watching from a pub thousands of miles away, but stood in the host city, surrounded by supporters from around the world, watching the game on a screen the size of a building.

For most fans, that’s more than enough.