2026 — The Tournament Of A Lifetime

World Cup News

Iran's allocation of fan tickets for the group stage of the World Cup has been revoked just days before the start of the tournament, says the country's football federation. The World Cup, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States, begins on Thursday, with Iran scheduled to play New Zealand on 15 June and Belgium on 21 June - both in Los Angeles - before facing Egypt in Seattle on 26 June. Iran's governing body says Fifa regulations state each federation involved in the World Cup receives 8% of the tickets for each of their matches, to distribute to supporters. It added that it had already begun selling tickets but can no longer provide them to fans, some of whom have already made travel arrangements. "Depriving Iranian supporters of access to their lawful and official allocation of tickets is an action contrary to the spirit of governing international competitions and the principle of equality among participating countries," the FFIRI statement said. "This development raises serious questions about the interference of non-sporting and political considerations in the organisation of the world's biggest football event." The FFIRI also called on Fifa "to uphold the principles of neutrality, fairness, and established regulations". The flag Iranians are not allowed to wave at the World Cup AttributionNewsPublished1 day agoLast-minute visas and moving training camp: Iran's road to the World Cup AttributionNewsPublished1 day agoIran's involvement in the World Cup has been plagued with uncertainty, linked to the ongoing war in the Middle East and related security concerns. On 25 May, Iran moved their training base from Tucson, Arizona to the Mexican city of Tijuana, claiming the US were unwilling to host them. Under the conditions of their visas, they will have to fly in and out of the United States on matchday for each of their three group games. Less than a fortnight later, on 6 June, they accused the US of denying visas to "integral" members of the national team's backroom staff, with 15 administrative officials denied entry. The FFIRI had previously presented Fifa with a list of 10 conditions for their participation in the World Cup, including allowing players, coaches and officials who have completed military service with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said Iran's players will be welcome at the tournament but individuals with links to the IRGC could face entry restrictions. Iran were the only country not present at Fifa's annual congress in Vancouver in April after a delegation of FFIRI officials, including president Medhi Taj, were turned away at the Canadian border. Everything you need to know about the World Cup

World Cup News

Forty-eight teams, 104 matches - and you can predict them all across the BBC Sport website and app. A new predictor game is being introduced to cover this year's World Cup, allowing users to pick what they think will be the result from every match. The new game also features streaks, so make sure to check in each day and make your predictions. Players will also have the chance to enter a prize draw to win an official World Cup football signed by members of the BBC World Cup team. Here is all you need to know about BBC Sport's World Cup predictor. Make your selections, or click 'How to Play' to be guided through how it works. For every match, you either choose a winner or a draw. Once your prediction has been submitted you are unable to change it, so be sure to pick carefully. After that, wait for the results to roll in and see how you have done. Every consecutive round you play adds one to your streak, but if you miss a round your streak resets to zero. There are three official World Cup footballs to give away in our prize draws, signed by ex-France defender Gael Clichy, presenter Kelly Cates, and former England internationals Alan Shearer, Micah Richards, Joe Hart, Wayne Rooney, Ellen White and Steph Houghton. Once you play the predictor, you will get a chance to enter the draw by filling in a form. The first draw will run during the group stage, the second includes the last 32 and last 16, and the third for predicting the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. Follow World Cup 2026 closer than ever with live match updates from BBC Sport

World Cup News

Diogo Jota's widow has urged Scotland captain Andrew Robertson to carry his former Liverpool team-mate in his heart when he lives their dream of playing at the World Cup. Jota died aged 28 in a car crash last July, after helping Portugal secure World Cup qualification. Jota, won 49 caps but never played at a World Cup after missing the 2022 tournament through a calf injury. "I couldn't get my mate Diogo Jota out of my head today," defender Robertson said after Scotland secured World Cup qualification in November. "We spoke so much about going to the World Cup because he missed the last one with Portugal and I did with Scotland. I know he'll be smiling over me today." In a letter to Robertson published by Fifa, Rute Cardoso, the mother of Jota's three children, said: "Diogo often spoke of you. Of the friendship you built, the battles you fought together, the challenges, the laughter, the conversations about football... and about dreams. "The World Cup was one of those dreams, a dream that the two of you nurtured, side by side, with the same passion with which you took to the pitch. "When I heard your words and learnt what you felt on that day when Scotland qualified for the World Cup, after so many years of waiting, I realised that Diogo never truly left the pitch. "By achieving that moment and securing your place at the World Cup, you won't be going alone. "You'll be taking his dream with you too. And when you step on to the pitch, I know it won't just be you walking out. Diogo will be with you in your thoughts, in your steps, in your heart. "So today, I want to thank you. Thank you for not forgetting him. Thank you for taking him with you. Thank you for turning the pain of loss into strength and into something so beautiful. "That's how we do it here at home too. Every day. He would be, and is, incredibly proud of you. Cherish that dream, Andy. Live it for yourself and for him." Robertson was filmed by Fifa reading out the letter and thanked Cardoso, saying it would stay with him for a "very long time". The World Cup runs from 11 June to 19 July. Scotland, playing in their first World Cup since 1998, face Haiti on Sunday, Morocco on 19 June and Brazil on 24 June in Group C. Robertson, who has joined Tottenham since leaving Liverpool at the end of the season, said: "I'll carry him in my heart and I know he'll be with me come the first game, come the second game, come the third game and hopefully beyond that. "He's always there. The memories are always something that we bring up and sometimes laugh, sometimes cry. "And that will be no different, especially going into a tournament which is full of emotion. I know he'll be right at the front of my mind. "I'm not only just playing for me. I'm playing for both of us."

World Cup News

BBC TV and radio host on sportswashing, the brilliance of watching Argentina up close and why Donald Trump won’t be able to hijack the football glory “Before every tournament there are always concerns,” Kelly Cates says as she approaches her fifth World Cup as a television and radio presenter. “There’s always something everybody’s worried about. This time I worry about the humidity and the altitude for the players and there are political concerns, obviously. “But there are also concerns that it’s not going to feel like a World Cup. In the US, they probably see that as a good thing. They probably see it as: ‘We’re going to make it better.’ Whereas we’re looking at it from a more traditional point of view, thinking: ‘Why are you going to change something that’s so amazing in the first place?’” Cates, who will present World Cup games on BBC television and Radio 5 Live, worked in Russia in 2018 and Qatar four years later, and she does not try to sidestep that we are about to be immersed in a tournament that takes place mostly in Donald Trump’s America. It starts in Mexico City on Thursday, and features 13 games each in Mexico and Canada, but the bulk of it will be played in the US. There is widespread antipathy towards America in Mexico, Canada and Europe and the tournament will unfold against the US’s war in Iran as well as the absurd double act of Trump and Fifa’s grovelling president, Gianni Infantino, who has allowed obscene ticket and travel prices to soar. “We do try to talk about it all, especially in the buildup,” says Cates who, as always, combines natural warmth with a refreshing willingness to discuss difficult issues. “Once the football gets under way we have this great distraction and that’s the point, isn’t it? But there’s a difficult line between taking the World Cup to countries where it wouldn’t traditionally be, and that can be a genuine force for good, and taking it to countries where it can be hijacked for someone’s political promotion or personal gain. “But I’m not sure the idea of sportswashing works that well in a World Cup, because I don’t think people really pay too much attention to where it’s being staged. They watch the football and really don’t have that sense of place. I don’t think people watched the Qatar World Cup and thought: ‘I really want to go to Doha.’ I don’t think people watched the 2018 World Cup, even with England reaching the semi-final, and thought: ‘I really must book a flight to Russia.’” Cates smiles diplomatically when asked how she feels about a World Cup that won’t be able to escape Trump. “I assume, because of his PR nous and skill for self-promotion, he will want to be front and centre. But I’m not sure that has the knock-on effect he will hope for. It might domestically. But he’s the kind of person that anything he does just consolidates what people already think of him now. I don’t think anybody’s changing their minds about him.” The 50-year-old then laughs at herself. “But I’m giddy about the fact they’ve decided to put Madonna on at half-time [of the final on 19 July]. I’m very sniffy about half-time shows, but now that Madonna’s going to be there [along with Shakira and the K-pop stars BTS], it has made it a much better idea.” Cates soon becomes more serious. “But you don’t get the full World Cup experience unless the fans are there, unless you have fans being able to travel in the first place. Not everybody’s going to be able to, either financially or logistically or because of travel bans. So that’s another issue and I think they’re missing out on what makes a World Cup special. They’re hoping they will be able to put razzmatazz around it and bring the American showbiz factor that’s going to make up for [the missing fans]. But it won’t feel like a traditional World Cup.” Cates is a football fan as much as a media pro. “I’m really wary of saying all these caveats and concerns will spoil the World Cup because when it gets under way you feel the buzz, don’t you? Even for us working in it.” She draws hope from the way football sustained her in Qatar. “It was quite stressful going over there. We’d had lots of conversations and there was a lot of anxiety about how we would cover it. I was really worried about getting the tone right. I was also concerned with how sanitised the games were going to be. “There was a coldness at times, but I went to Argentina v Mexico and the stand directly across from us had a peak in the middle and so it felt incredibly high and incredibly far away. It was slightly fuzzy and looked a little bit like old footage of Argentina 1978. It had that vintage feel to it and their fans were incredible. “Bar the Saudi Arabia game, which I’m not too worried about having missed, I went to every Argentina game in Qatar, whether it was to work on or just to watch. I ended up getting so involved, I felt Argentinian by the end of it. There are all these links between Argentina and Scotland so I was like: ‘Right, these are my people.’ So when they won it I was beside myself. That final? What a genuine privilege. And what a privilege to see Messi at close quarters.” Cates shakes her head in wonder. “We talked about it on 5 Live with Tim Vickery [the South America football expert] and it was like watching an alligator. They sit below the surface and look like a rock and nobody notices them and then they snap. It was so incredible to watch this all-time great in action. Me and my friend, Simon, who was a producer on many of the games, saw a lot of Argentina together. Every now and again we still send each other a text that says: ‘Have you ever seen Messi win the World Cup?’” Enthusiasm pours out with her laughter and Cates sounds even more excited when we remember how some of the World Cup qualifying matches, especially as Scotland beat Denmark 4-2 in November, were the equal of almost anything else this season. “I was working for BBC Scotland at Hampden and it was incredible,” she says. “They did a commentary-cam, with a camera on all the pundits, and I ended up sitting in the middle of them. I don’t know how it slipped through the net on social media because what you can see, and a few of my friends noticed, is that when Scotland went ahead with that amazing Scott McTominay goal I’m in the middle going: ‘What a fucking goal.’ “My friends were texting me going: ‘How has that slipped through? We can all lip read.’ It was also so cold and I’ve got really big, heavy gloves on so I looked like someone who’d never clapped in their life. I was so overexcited. “I did a show with Pat Nevin on the radio last month about moments of the season. Pat said it might be the greatest feeling he’s had, watching or playing, in any game of football. Genuinely, it was so special. “We’ve had so many years of glorious failure so we all went in steeled for that. After the first goal that euphoria was quickly tempered by a feeling of: ‘Well, we scored too early.’ But there were three more sensational goals and my phone was beeping constantly till four in the morning because nobody could sleep. Everybody was wired.” Does Cates have some sadness the BBC decided she, her fellow presenters, Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman, and their pundits, will be working in a studio in Salford until the later stages of the tournament? “At first I was a little bit disappointed. But I’m now very much on the positive side and thinking: ‘Do you know what? It would be impossible to get to enough games to cover them.’” Cates says “we’ll still have a presence. For the Scotland matches, Eilidh Barbour’s going to be there and we’ll have people in the stadium. But when I think about the first Scotland game [against Haiti], I like the idea it’s going to be two in the morning. We won’t be in quite the same headspace as everybody who’s watching it in the pub, but we’re going to be in that slightly unreal, middle-of-the-night, mad World Cup kick-off time zone. “I’m going to get in Irn-Bru and Tunnocks Caramel Wafers and Teacakes and make it a bit of a party atmosphere in the studio so we’re in the same headspace as people watching at home. There’s something nice in being mentally and emotionally in the same place as the viewers.” She will do “a mix of TV and radio and then I’m heading out to the US for 5 Live for the semi-finals and final”. On television, Cates, Logan and Chapman will guide a panel of pundits including Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney, Thomas Frank and Olivier Giroud, but will she keep a close eye on the BBC’s rivals at ITV? “Very much so and much more than in a normal tournament. I’m going to be able to watch everything and that’s nice because I know a lot of the ITV pundits. I’ve worked with them week in, week out. There’s a rivalry at a corporate level where they’re looking at numbers, but not for us. We just want to watch the games and watch our mates.” For Cates, “there is a sense of responsibility in having that many viewers trusting you to bring the coverage. You don’t want to let people down. World Cups are such a big part of people’s lives, and we’re covering it for kids who will have their first World Cup memories in this one and we’re also covering it for people for whom it’s a huge part of their lives every four years. “But, mostly, they remember the games. Then they’ll remember the pundits, but we presenters are way down the list. Nobody’s really going: ‘There was that amazing World Cup moment with a presenter.’ Unless it’s Des Lynam, of course.” Cates laughs again and, as always happens in the World Cup, the pre-tournament concerns fade. She will also host Scotland v Brazil in their final group game and Cates can’t stop smiling. “Just the thought of Scotland being in the World Cup is amazing. If your own country isn’t there, it’s not the same. I know we’ve been in it before in my lifetime, but this feels different. This feels more emotional.”

World Cup News

Micheal Barwagen is part of an all-Canadian crew at this World Cup, and says the new offside system makes his job easier in some ways The 2026 World Cup will be the first edition of the tournament to feature semi-automated offside technology, utilizing a dozen cameras to track player movement at a rate of 50 stills per second. In theory, it sounds like an effective, if dizzying, way to cut down on delays and better aid the officials. One of those officials is Micheal Barwegan, who is part of the first all-Canadian officiating team in men’s World Cup history. He has worked with referee Drew Fischer and fellow assistant referee Lyes Arfa increasingly often over the past two years. The team worked in-tandem at the 2024 Olympics and last summer’s Club World Cup along with their more regular work in club soccer. This summer won’t be his first semi-automated rodeo. That came last summer, when he was stationed along the touchline during Botafogo’s famous win over Paris Saint-Germain at the Club World Cup. Barwegan said that while the tech certainly helps with his job, it does not turn the assistant referee into an autopilot-led role. “I’m gonna tell you, the semi-automated system is not perfect,” Barwegan said. “As such, our job stays exactly the same. It is really, really good – I like to say I’m a little bit better – but I think that’s purely just on a technical side with how it’s programmed. “It’s tracking every player, and it’s got points [on each of those players] that it’s tracking … so I’m going to say it is as perfect as an assistant referee, if not better, on your normal run-of-the-mill offside calls. Its accuracy is amazing at that.” All of those cameras tracking all of those limbs assess when an attacker is stationed to receive a pass beyond the second-to-last defender. If it’s absolutely certain, the system notifies assistant referees with an “offside, offside, offside” message in an automated voice through their earpiece. As of last summer’s Club World Cup, being “clearly offside” means the gap between defender and attacker is more than 10cm. Whenever it gets closer, the system will say “delay” in the assistant referee’s earpiece. If there isn’t a clear offside call to flag – either due to minimal gaps between the players involved or some off-ball movement that complicates assessing the scenario – there is no message. All the while, the assistant referees must do their usual work, allowing the match to progress so long as the play is inconclusive. Those automated messages are only received by assistant referees, who are also in constant contact with the referee for the full duration of a match. Barwegan and some of his peers have begun relaying what the semi-automated system tells them as an important part of their role. “The advantage to us on those plays is that the system doesn’t make a decision until the offside position player touches the ball,” Barwegan said. “When the ball gets played and a player’s running, I am quick to say [whether] he’s going to be offside or he’s good, and I will clear it to the referee in his earpiece before another decision has to be made. The computer has to think, and it’s super fast, but [on the field] it feels like forever.” Barwegan, a math teacher and a board game afficionado, first began officiating at age 12, hoping to earn “some pocket change.” Within five years, he found that he enjoyed calling games more than he liked playing them, though he’s quick to admit he “wasn’t that good” as a player. “Some people are like, ‘I need to go for a run’,” Barwegan said. “I clearly still need to do that, because I have to run [as a referee]. I like engaging my brain. I like reading rules, deciphering rules, and seeing how systems work together.” By 2012, he was calling professional games. His brother Brian also chose to take up officiating, eventually refereeing high school and college games for 17 years. When it came time for him to hang up his whistle in 2025, Brian had one request: For Micheal to be his AR. “I texted my manager with a weird request: can you [assign] me to Toronto?” Micheal recalled. “He’s like, ‘nobody wants to go to Toronto when it might be cold. What are you doing?” The reasoning was simple; Toronto was the only location close enough to Brian’s home in Alberta for Micheal to work a pro game on Saturday, with enough time to fly back and drive to Brian’s final game. After working Toronto FC’s 4-2 win over Orlando City, Micheal hopped on a flight and got to the University of Lethbridge in time for the Pronghorns’ clash against the University of Alberta Golden Bears. “I came screaming in, threw on a uniform and threw on my badge and went out there,” Barwegan said. “They still yelled at me non-stop. I was doing a game in MLS 14 hours ago, guys. I know what offside is, I promise.”

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The 1974 World Cup in West Germany - what do you think of? Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff and the total football of the Dutch runners-up? Or maybe it's Scotland's first-round exit as the only unbeaten team at the finals. The sole nation from the British Isles to qualify, it was the first time the Scots had qualified since 1958. The official song was called Easy, Easy - but it wasn't conceit or hubris that was their downfall, it was goal difference. Joe Jordan and Davie Hay played in all three group matches and recall the campaign... Preparations were eye-opening, to say the least. After mixed results in the Home Internationals, Scotland had warm-up matches in Belgium and Norway. Then there was an infamous incident in Largs. Manager Willie Ormond allowed the players go for a night out in the coastal town and, in the early hours, winger Jimmy Johnstone decided to commandeer a rowing boat. Only problem was, he had no oars and began to drift out to sea. Hay and Eric Schaedler tried to rescue him, but the boat they purloined had a hole in it so they frantically rowed back to the shore. Johnstone had to be rescued by the coastguard, becoming front page news in the process. "We gave the perfect response the following Saturday by beating England 2-0," says Hay. "You couldn't say Jimmy beat England single-handedly but he helped destroy them. "I always say the perfect preparation should be going out for the evening, having a few drinks, and then a boating trip..." With world champions Brazil drawing 0-0 with Yugoslavia the previous day, Scotland's win over the inexperienced Africans - with goals from Jordan and Peter Lorimer - took them top of group two. "There was serious pressure on us because we were the favourites," Hay recalls. "I remember it was exceptionally warm and, being 2-0 up at half-time, I think we took the foot of the gas." Jordan adds: "In hindsight we should have tried to score more goals. Looking at the big picture, it was a mistake. There was a bit of naivety in it. If that game had been our second or third, the scoreline might have been a little different." Scotland had the best chance of the game when a Jordan header was saved by Leao but the rebound struck captain Billy Bremner's shin and squirmed inches past. "It wasn't like he could side-foot it in - it bounced off him," Jordan recalls. "It wasn't the result we wanted but we didn't feel it was an opportunity missed. We were in a position where we were going into the Yugoslavia game knowing a win would take us through." It was a sterling showing and remains the last time Brazil were denied victory by Scotland. "I watched the highlights recently and what impressed me was how balanced the team was," said Hay. "They didn't have Pele, but you are still playing against that magic yellow jersey. "In the first 10 minutes we were under the cosh a wee bit, but from then on we were slightly the better team." Meanwhile in Gelsenkirchen, Yugoslavia thrashed Zaire 9-0 amid claims the Africans had threatened to strike before the game over missing payments. Zaire head coach Miljan Miljanic had been a Yugoslavia international as a player. And, with his team 3-0 down after 21 minutes, he replaced his goalkeeper with a 5ft, 4in stand-in. Sixty seconds later it was four. "You often find that smaller nations are always up for the first game then fall away," Hay says. 22 June, Frankfurt. Scotland 1-1 Yugoslavia Victory would take Scotland into the last eight. Even a draw would have been good enough if Brazil failed to beat Zaire by three clear goals. But they did, winning 3-0. The Scots fell a goal behind with fewer than 10 minutes left, with Jordan's late equaliser not enough. Yugoslavia, Brazil and Scotland finished level on points, with the team who scored fewest against Zaire eliminated. "Over the three games, we only conceded one goal," Jordan says. "You go back to the Zaire game, there's a lot of disappointment - we should have done a lot more damage. "The only thing Ormond could have done differently was maybe bring Johnstone on against Brazil and Yugoslavia. He didn't play in a single game. "I don't know if that was for disciplinary reasons. On reflection, he probably would have made a difference." Brazil and Yugoslavia progressed to the last eight only to both go out in the second group stage. West Germany beat Netherlands 2-1 in the final, but lost to East Germany earlier in the tournament, leaving Scotland as the only unbeaten team in the finals. That's got to count for something, right? Goalkeepers: Allan (Dundee), Harvey (Leeds United), Stewart (Kilmarnock) Defenders: Blackley (Hibernian), Buchan (Manchester United), Donachie (Manchester City), Holton (Manchester United), Jardine (Rangers), McGrain (Celtic), McQueen (Leeds United), Schaedler (Hibernian) Midfielders: Bremner (Leeds United), Cormack (Liverpool), Hay (Celtic), Hutchison (Coventry City), Johnstone (Celtic) Forwards: Dalglish (Celtic), Jordan (Leeds United), Law (Manchester City), Lorimer (Leeds United), Morgan (Manchester United) Everything you need to know about the World Cup

World Cup News

From high-altitude training to made to measure kits, teams have resorted to all manner of things to adapt to conditions at the tournament The heat and the altitude worried everybody. The 1970 World Cup in Mexico would not be a normal one. So the Bulgarian authorities sent their squad south of Sofia to get used to playing several thousand feet above sea level. Which seemed a great idea until somebody noticed that the temperature in the Pirin Mountains was not in the mid-20s celsius as it is in Mexico but somewhere near freezing. How then could they replicate the effect of playing in intense heat? By restricting water intake so that the players got used to performing while dehydrated. The plan was not a great success. Bulgaria lost their first two World Cup games in 1970 and had already been eliminated by the time they drew with Morocco. It’s safe to assume that preparations for this World Cup will be rather more sophisticated than they were 56 years ago. Most countries back then seemed to take the view that training at altitude was the logical way to prepare for games in Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara. Israel went to Ethiopia and Colorado. Uruguay played in Quito and Bogotá. Mexico themselves held a five-month training camp that featured 13 friendly internationals in four months before a pair of games against the Scottish side Dundee United. England, the world champions, were paranoid about what they’d find in Mexico. Their team doctor, Neil Phillips, took a course on heat, altitude and tropical diseases, and recommended the players take salt tablets. He also brought in Dr Griffith Pugh, a physiologist who had been on Edmund Hillary’s mission that had climbed Everest. Other measures were less sensible. The manager Alf Ramsey, for all his gifts as a coach, was a xenophobe to the core. He had been a player in the England side that had lost to the USA in 1950, and remembered the greasy food served in Brazil with horror. A trip to Brazil in 1964 and a further tour of Latin America in 1969 had only heightened his distrust. England, he decided, would import their own bus, food and water. For the Mexicans, already irritated by a string of undiplomatic statements from Ramsey, this was the final straw. The authorities decided that the United Kingdom was beset by foot and mouth, so they impounded all the frozen meat at the docks then burned it, leaving England to subsist on Findus fishfingers and ready meals. Pre-tournament preparations began with three weeks in Mexico City, where life was so regimented that Ramsey would sit by the pool as players sunbathed, timing 20 minutes with a stopwatch, then blowing a whistle so the players could turn over. England then left for friendlies at altitude in Bogotá and Quito. It was when they stopped on the way back to change planes in Colombia that their captain, Bobby Moore, was arrested, accused of stealing a bracelet from a jewellery shop in the hotel foyer. He was held under house arrest for several days at the home of Alfonso Senior, a senior director of the Colombian football federation. After fevered diplomatic efforts, Moore made it to Mexico in time to play in England’s first game, a 1-0 win over Romania, and was eventually exonerated. The team that prepared most thoroughly, though, was Brazil. Late in 1969, the coach who led them through qualifying, João Saldanha, met two army officers, Cláudio Coutinho and Lamartine Da Costa, at a churrascaria at the bottom of Sugarloaf Mountain to discuss the best way to get the players ready for the physical challenge ahead. Coutinho would later become coach of Brazil and the LA Aztecs, where he had just finished working when he was killed in a diving accident in 1981. Da Costa was a specialist in biometeorology who taught at the Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro. Both had attended the 1968 Mexico Olympics, both had made their observations and were keen to employ science to help. The samba stereotype of Brazilian football, the idea of instinctive footballers wandering off the beach to win tournaments had always been nonsense. The Brazilian golden age, when they won three Worlds Cups out of four between 1958 and 1970 was always based on meticulous preparation. Before the 1970 tournament, the players spent 100 days at army facilities. Everything was monitored in fanatical detail: players’ kit was made to measure and the collars designed so they would not accumulate sweat. There was a lot of talk about using a Nasa training course, although that seems to have amounted to little more than using the Cooper test, a means of monitoring fitness by measuring how far the players could run in 12 minutes. They arrived in Mexico City 32 days before their opening game against Czechoslovakia. And it worked: 12 of the 19 goals scored by Brazil in the 1970 World Cup came in the second half. They outlasted opponents as well as outplaying them. And there is perhaps a lesson there for 2026. Preparation isn’t everything (as we will see below), and the demands of the domestic calendar mean no contender will have spent four months locked away in isolation to train, but being ready for the conditions and having a gameplan that accounts for it will be a major benefit. There is a lot of randomness in football, much that is settled only on the day, but the higher the starting point the more chance a side has. Subsisting on Findus ready meals has never been a successful basis for winning a World Cup. Cameroon’s preparations for the 1990 World Cup in Italy had been shambolic. Their coach was the Russian Valery Nepomnyashchy, who had turned up two years earlier to run youth development in the country only to be appointed to the senior job. He spoke little French and the players didn’t much like him. They went out of the 1990 Cup of Nations in the group stage. When they moved from Bordeaux to Yugoslavia for a pre-tournament training camp, the balls and kit didn’t turn up. The attacking midfielder Grégoire M’Bida was sent home for missing the bus, then the veteran forward Roger Milla, who had gone into semi-retirement, turned up at the request of the country’s president, Paul Biya. Before the opening game, against Argentina, played on 8 June 1990, the goalkeeper Joseph-Antoine Bell gave an interview in which he said a 3-0 defeat to the reigning world champions would be a good result. He was dropped and Thomas N’Kono drafted in – so late that his wife missed the game because she’d gone shopping in Milan, believing her husband would be on the bench. Cameroon had two men sent off – and still won 1-0. No sub-Saharan African team had ever previously won a game at the World Cup; Cameroon went on to reach the quarter-final that year. This is an extract from Soccer Desk: World Cup edition, a newsletter from the Guardian US that will run regularly during the tournament. Subscribe for free here.

World Cup News

Regulator will monitor measures taken by companies ‘Spikes have often targeted Black and minority ethnic players’ Ofcom has written to social media companies to remind them of their responsibilities regarding online abuse and said it will monitor measures taken against “illegal hate content” during the World Cup. After the experience of England players during the men’s 2021 European Championship and the women’s Euros last year, Ofcom has urged online platforms to make sure they have effective mitigations against abuse in place and that they are “adequately prepared for increased occurrence during the World Cup”. The risk of online harms related to major sporting events is “an area of significant concern” for the regulator, Ofcom says, citing its own research that shows the effect abuse has on players and others. “In previous tournaments, players, officials and coaching staff representing the home nations have experienced online hate, threats, abuse and harassment”, Ofcom’s letter reads. “Spikes in the circulation of this content have often targeted Black and minority ethnic players, as well as being on the basis of perceived sexual orientation or disability status.” Ofcom’s research “highlighted the scale, severity and normalisation of abuse online, including racist and threatening content directed at sportspeople, commentators and others in the public eye. Participants reported that such abuse is often relentless, highly visible and difficult to control. It can result in fear for personal and family safety or withdrawal from public life, as well as affecting health and wellbeing.” The letter notes that Fifa research found the quarter-final between France and England caused the largest spike in abuse against players during the 2022 men’s World Cup. This followed the abuse directed at Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho after England’s penalty shootout defeat by Italy in 2021. In March, a man was given a suspended jail sentence after he was found guilty of directing “malicious communications” towards Jess Carter during the women’s Euros in 2025. Ofcom says it will monitor the way companies deal with abuse on their platforms using a “live compliance programme” and will share information with other key stakeholders, including the Football Association and the UK Football Policing Unit. The Online Safety Act requires social media companies ensure numerous measures are in place to keep their users safe. A central demand is that all social media platforms should have an “adequately resourced” content management team capable of removing illegal content. They are also required to have an “easy and accessible” complaints system, tools that enable users to disable comments and a named individual responsible for the ultimate compliance with the rules. Ofcom is the independent regulator of online safety after the introduction of the Online Safety Act, which came into effect in 2023. Under the act, it has the ability to fine a company £18m, or up to 10% of worldwide revenue, if it fails to take action against illegal content.

World Cup News

Steve Clarke has been branded "unprofessional" by Norway counterpart Stale Solbakken after the Scotland head coach cancelled a training-ground friendly as both sides prepare for the start of the World Cup. With both squads based in North Carolina, the game was planned for Monday, but the Norwegian Football Federation announced on Sunday it had been called off because of injuries in the Scotland camp. Clarke later confirmed to BBC Scotland: "It was just going to be a training game for an hour at our training ground. We picked up one or two niggles last week and decided it wasn't worth the risk." But, after Norway's 1-1 draw with Scotland's Group C opponents Morocco in Sunday's public friendly, Solbakken described it as "surprising" when talking to Norwegian broadcaster NRK. "It is unprofessional of Scotland," he said. "It is unprofessional that the coach has not called me, that they use the team manager and call and say it after we have finished training. Inside the fairytale journey of Scotland captain Robertson "But we have to live with that. That's why we adjusted a bit in the game." Norway kick-off their Group I campaign against Iraq next Tuesday, three days after Scotland face Haiti in Group C. The Scots played their final public preparation game on Saturday, when they defeated Bolivia 4-0, with Clarke utilising most of his squad. However, Norway's team manager, former Fulham defender Brede Hangeland, said they had based their World Cup preparations on the closed-doors friendly "for many months" before arriving at their base a Greensboro, about 90 miles from Scotland's training camp in Charlotte. "It is embarrassing to cancel it a couple of days before," he added. "We can't do anything about it. "We just have to forget about it and make the best of it. But there has been a lot of organisation, agreements and gentlemen's agreements and then suddenly they don't want to. "I think that was weak, so to speak." Everything you need to know about the World Cup