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Even Fifa’s president can’t bluster his way out of empty seats. No manner of artistic licence or that creepy smile-speak-nod move can magic a person into an empty space and then do the same trick several hundred more times. After the first match of the World Cup not involving a host nation, Fifa has been embarrassed.

Gianni Infantino was in Guadalajara and presumably winced. On the opposite side to where the television cameras were based, on the halfway line, a block barely half full and with entire rows of red seats empty. On US TV, Fox did its best not to scan and reveal the whole truth. You can’t pull the wool over reality forever.

Each empty seat represents one of two things: a choice not to be there or an inability to afford it. Both are unacceptable. We may never know the exact attendance, for this has been an opaque dance rolling on for months.

Back in February, Infantino was busy telling us that every match at this tournament would be a sellout, alongside his claim that there had been 508 million requests for seven million seats.

“Obviously the price is a consequence of that,” said Fifa’s president. “77 out of these 104 matches have received requests for over one million tickets. Every match is already sold out. We keep some tickets back for some last-minute sales, of course, but every match is sold out.”

Perhaps this was one of those matches without one million ticket demands – a mere 600,000 for the 45,664-seater Estadio Akron, do we think? Maybe hundreds of supporters were on the same badly delayed train or merely came in fancy dress as red seats? Or perhaps Infantino was wrong.

What Fifa actually meant is that the current batch of tickets had sold out. To generate a perception of fever, there were staggered releases. The problem with that? People who might travel to this tournament from abroad have to make plans early. And clearly many locals had been priced out. That empty area on the halfway line, the conspicuous red void, was a high-priced section.

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The retort from some will be thus: it’s a lower-value group game. The Czech Republic have not taken a large travelling support. Lots of local supporters will have watched the Mexico game earlier in the day and will likely have blocked out the whole day for that purpose.

Which, fine. But that’s the point: if you consider that certain matches will be less popular than others, why on Earth wouldn’t your prices reflect that? Why would you continue to parrot a message of “sold out, move on” when the empty spaces in the stadium were clearly going to prove you wrong. This is either a failure in pricing – blocking out locals – or a failure in process (if Fifa believe these tickets really were sold).

And for all the caveats, Guadalajara is in the most football-adjacent host country and this is the second smallest stadium by capacity at the World Cup, ahead of only Toronto. There is no excuse for the second match of the tournament to not be full in a football-mad nation of 133 million people. There is no excuse for us to be having this conversation now.

Now focus must switch to other non-premier group matches, particularly those in the largest US stadia – New York-New Jersey, Los Angeles, Dallas, Kansas City. Make no mistake: each empty seat is a small defeat for Fifa’s pricing and sales strategy and the rhetoric of its leader.

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With 51 shots in 180 minutes, 12 on target and just four goals, England shook off the rust in Florida – but for a team with so much attacking heft, they lack cutting edge.

Harry Kane remains the exception to the rule of a squad light on goals. They need a Plan B that doesn’t rely on rolling the dice on battering ram Ivan Toney or a change of pace with Ollie Watkins.

Enter Jude Bellingham? That seemed to be the suggestion coming out of England’s Florida series, a gentle introduction to a month when the verdict will be delivered on the “go-big-or-go-home” appointment of Thomas Tuchel.

England’s reasoning with Tuchel is sound enough. Unlike his predecessor Gareth Southgate, who was big on vibes but had tactical shortcomings when it mattered, Tuchel has already delivered in the big moments. He’s the finisher in a tournament that demands one.

If you screwed your eyes tight enough against a fairly feeble Costa Rican challenge, you could see signs – and none was more intriguing than Bellingham getting a run at No 9, first alongside Kane before eight bright minutes in tandem with his mate Morgan Rogers.

Could Bellingham play as a No 9?

“Maybe we’ll see it at the tournament,” Tuchel said after the 3-0 win, wearing a trademark mischevious grin.

The idea is simple: Bellingham becomes the No 9 and plays it as a free role. He drops deep, he dribbles, he occupies the half spaces that cause organised defences problems. And he gives Kane space to reprise the quarter-back role that he’s been playing for Bayern Munich.

There’s also another intriguing possibility here. Tuchel loves Rogers but his idea is to have two players battling for every position in his England squad. So, if Bellingham gets the nod – and that seems now to be the very strong suggestion for Croatia – it means Rogers is on the bench.

Bellingham as a No 9 gives him the chance to get both on the pitch, perhaps when Kane is tiring in the heat or needs preserving for future assignments.

Two things spring to mind: Would Bellingham have happily accepted this role under Southgate at Euro 2024? For all the “who else” swagger in Germany, Bellingham cut a frustrated figure in that tournament. Something wasn’t right.

That he’s prepared to do it under Tuchel suggests he has been – partly at least – humbled by some of the tough-talking of last year. Bellingham has played there for Real Madrid but he’s a No 10 really, especially for England where he likes to conduct.

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Secondly, it exhibits the sort of creative thinking that is going to be needed to win the strangest World Cup of all. Anyone else still shudder at the Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard debate from 20 years ago? That kind of binary thinking was still a “thing” two years ago when Southgate shoehorned Phil Foden into the team and briefly experimented with Trent Alexander-Arnold as a No 6.

Tuchel represents a different way and Bellingham looks like a different animal these days.

“Jude has the personality to score, to be decisive and to arrive in the box so it is an option,” he said.

Given England’s challenge for the next fortnight is to unlock low blocks and crack tournament veterans Croatia, he will need a few different combinations. Bellingham’s proposed new gig feels full of promise.

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The Manhattan skyline is looming, a breeze is blowing, and the horns of New York’s famous yellow taxis blare in the background. It is so sizzlingly hot that Roy Keane is bearing a pair of tanned legs. This is a World Cup television studio at its finest, except it belongs to ITV. The BBC will be staying at home.

Gary Lineker has dismissed his old employers’ set-up as a “green box in Salford”. “It’s not a green box in Salford,” retorts Alex Kay-Jelski, the BBC’s director of sport. “It’s a beautiful, state-of-the-art studio.

“The actual product that people are getting at home, I don’t really think it’s that different. If these people were sitting somewhere else, would your viewing be massively changed?”

The BBC will be sending journalists and commentators to live matches across the US, Mexico and Canada – but the main studio, once fronted by Lineker and still featuring the likes of Alan Shearer, Alex Scott, Micah Richards and Wayne Rooney, sits in MediaCity on the outskirts of Manchester.

Behind the sofas, there is no green screen but a virtual reality backdrop of whichever of the 16 host cities is holding the match. If there is rain, wind or sun, it won’t be real – it will be added at the press of a button.

The electronic “tactics board” – where pundits will circle players and analyse in-game footage -has been built into the floor.

The behind-the-scenes set-up is hugely impressive; dozens upon dozens of screens will be used by producers to clip up moments from the games, usually suggested by the pundits themselves. There are no edicts from Fifa or otherwise on what can and can’t be shown – allowing for any warts-and-all debates around empty seats or ticket pricing.

During the World Cup’s three-minute water breaks, there may be cuts to other BBC content, but no adverts. Another point of difference from ITV. The most obvious contrast between them is that the BBC is taxpayer-funded – ITV have announced a 30 per cent rise in revenue compared to Euro 2024, making this the most lucrative tournament they have ever shown.

That means that for the BBC there have had to be “difficult decisions”.

“I don’t think the answer from a financially sustainable point of view, is to go: ‘Everyone can go.’ I don’t think that is a very clever way to spend licence fee money,” says Kay-Jelski.

“The budget isn’t infinite, and we have to make sensible and difficult decisions sometimes. I don’t even see this one as a difficult decision. I think it’s really, really sensible. If I was standing here saying, everything is going to be done from a studio in Dallas, you would rightly be saying to me, how can you justify that expense?”

By cutting back, the BBC estimates its carbon emissions have dropped by 19 per cent. That, despite this being the biggest World Cup in history across three countries, 48 teams and 104 matches. With other tournaments set to follow suit, it could be the model for the future.

The other competition comes from a saturated podcast market. After leaving the BBC last year, Lineker is taking his Rest is Football to Netflix in a £14m deal. Kay-Jelski says they are “relaxed” about the fact Richards and Shearer, two of their most popular pundits, will be splitting their time between the two.

Gabby Logan will become the first woman to present the final on UK television, also fronting the BBC’s first live game between Canada and Bosnia-Herzegovina alongside Olivier Giroud, Rooney and Richards. After winning a BAFTA for her Women’s Euro 2025 coverage, the BBC regard her as a “national treasure”.

For the other games it will be a rotating cast of Logan, Mark Chapman and Kelly Cates, the same trio who take turns on Match of the Day. ITV and the BBC typically end up doing battle for the big England games – the final, as usual, will be given to both broadcasters.

Fans have also criticised both channels for failing to provide a highlights show rounding up each day – but it’s the remote working in Salford that has prompted the biggest debate. Lineker has already unveiled his own New York studio – but for his old bosses, football will be staying home.

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ORLANDO — Declan Rice knows what you’ve all been saying.

Those pictures England players had taken earlier this week where they are re-enacting their goal celebrations? Rice looked decidedly rosy in his, clearly feeling the effects of the Florida sun.

“I think everyone has seen those pictures, I was bright red in those photos. Honestly, my mum was killing me,” he told reporters after he hit the ground running with a solid display in England’s final World Cup warm-up.

The 3-0 win was a step up from Saturday’s gentle stroll against New Zealand. And perhaps evidence that England are starting to understand the demands of playing in the humid conditions they’ll encounter here in the US.

“The first day that we came, it was just getting used to that heat,” Rice explained.

“Coming from England, where it’s hot-cold, all different types of weather, coming here and it’s always 30 degrees – it really does hit you in the face.”

Rice’s sunburn won’t pose a threat to England’s World Cup chances. But he’s one of four players Thomas Tuchel needs to protect at all costs in the next week if the Three Lions are going to make short work of a potentially taxing Group L.

Declan Rice

How much better do things tick when Rice is here? He’s not just a good personality – universally respected and liked in the England camp – but he’s also a very, very fine midfielder who can provide style as well as a shield.

With three major tournament appearances – including Qatar 2022, when England were dreadfully unlucky to go out to France in the quarter-finals – he also has experience of what is required to succeed in the rarefied World Cup air.

Jude Bellingham

Forget the debate. It was fun for Tuchel to dispatch a few sacred cows last year when he had time on his side and could talk about culture and signing up to England DNA.

But let’s not beat around the bush: sides that win World Cups need a certain swagger and Bellingham provides that for England.

Part of the problem in the World Cup cycle has been that Tuchel’s Three Lions haven’t really been tested. They’ve played well in spells, something that you could say about Wednesday’s solid 3-0 defeat of Costa Rica, but they’ve yet to confront a really decent team under the German.

Unless they come catastrophically unstuck here in America, that will change in the next fortnight or so, and when the challenges arrive, they will need Bellingham.

He had the look of a player arriving in form at the right time in Orlando, showcasing his versatility and ability by occupying the number nine role for periods against Costa Rica. For his goals, his big game mentality and his ability, Bellingham needs to be involved from the start against Croatia.

Harry Kane

Well, who else? Wednesday was a rare example of England winning without their top goalscorer and talisman scoring. It’s no bad thing that others find a way to do what Kane makes look so effortlessly easy.

He’s in the form of his life and – unlike 2024’s anaemic version of a clearly fatigued Kane – there are no debates about whether having a more energetic striker might be a better way forward. It would now be sacrilege to talk about dropping Kane.

Elliot Anderson

An English midfielder that Manchester City – usually pretty sharp recruiters – are willing to pay in excess of £100million for? Where do I sign up?

Anderson’s rise from bit-part player at Newcastle to nailed-on England starter in two years has been quite something.

Leaving St James’ Park has helped him to grow into a player capable of influencing games at the highest level.

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Mexico is preparing to host the biggest and most politicised World Cup in history – unlike its noisy neighbours to the north, above all it is a football nation.

“We have that in the blood,” tourism minister Michelle Fridman tells The i Paper. “Everyone in Mexico just loves football. I would say it’s an integrator of society. We’ll have fun – we’ll celebrate with lots of tequila and mariachi music.”

The tournament is a chance to “show Mexico to the world”. Alongside co-hosts Canada and the United States, Mexico will hold 16 matches across Guadalajara, Monterrey and Mexico City. Over $12bn (£9bn) has been invested.

Yet when it kicks off Claudia Sheinbaum, the country’s first female president, will not be there to see it. She has delivered on a promise to give away her ticket to the opening ceremony to an indigenous woman.

Mexico’s national team tend to thrive on home soil – they reached the quarter-finals (their best World Cup run) in both 1970 and 1986, tournaments they hosted. But neither had a backdrop quite like this one.

Mexico’s unlikely co-hosts

The US government has tried to paint a very different picture, one of a dark underbelly in Mexico’s cities which threatened to derail the entire World Cup project. Sheinbaum has repeatedly accused the US of political interference, suggesting American far-right groups are working alongside Mexican counterparts to undermine her administration.

In January, Donald Trump threatened to send troops over the border, purportedly to tackle the cartels. The killing of drug kingpin “El Mencho” in a military operation led to a spate of violence just as Mexico was finalising its preparations to welcome a million visitors.

But that is an unjust depiction, for several reasons. Before a ball has even been kicked, tourism to Mexico is at an all-time high. The US, by contrast, is a global outlier – its own tourism industry experienced a sharp decline in 2025. In Guadalajara, homicide is down by 40 per cent and wider crime by more than 20 per cent.

“I’ve seen how unfair this image of Mexico has been to our country,” Fridman says.

“It’s not a surprise that the United States has been facing, let’s say, a challenging time – whether it’s migration politics that has affected the tourism industry overall, not only with Mexico, but with the rest of the world. There are less tourists arriving to the United States and less tourists leaving the United States.

“What we’ve been doing is to keep saying to the Americans that we’re open to receiving them, we want them. There are many Americans that are still visiting us.”

In the host cities, a party atmosphere has been building. Guadalajara, Fridman describes as “traditionally modern”, keeping its “history, tradition, and traditional food” alive, while evolving into a city ready to welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors.

The raicilla – a 400-year-old tropical spirit, second only to tequila for popularity – is flowing. The elephants and capybaras at Jalisco zoo have been asked to predict results by selecting boxes of food bearing different flags. All seemed to believe Mexico will win.

Which World Cup games are in Mexico?

Group stages:

• Mexico vs South Africa – 11 June (Mexico City Stadium)
• South Korea vs Czechia – 11 June (Estadio Guadalajara)
• Sweden vs Tunisia – 14 June (Estadio Monterrey)
• Uzbekistan vs Colombia – 17 June (Mexico City Stadium)
• Mexico vs South Korea – 18 June (Estadio Guadalajara)
• Tunisia vs Japan – 20 June (Estadio Monterrey)
• Colombia vs DR Congo – 23 June (Estadio Guadalajara)
• Czechia vs Mexico – 24 June (Estadio Monterrey)
• Uruguay vs Spain – 26 June (Estadio Guadalajara)

Knockouts:

• Round of 32 – Group F winners vs Group C runners-up – 29 June (Estadio Monterrey)
• Round of 32 – Group A winners vs Group C/E/F/H/I third-place – 30 June (Mexico City Stadium)
• Round of 16 – Winner of Match 79 vs Match 80 – 5 July (Mexico City Stadium)

‘Football is woven into our life’

Mexico arrive at this World Cup on an eight-game unbeaten run, and have an added advantage in temperatures set to soar beyond 32 degrees during matches. In Mexico City, players will have to run in high altitudes 7,300 ft above sea level.

Javier Aguirre, the head coach, is Mexico’s answer to Gareth Southgate, prioritising pragmatism over flair.

“The passion for the game is woven into everyday life here,” Citlalli Medina, a Mexican football expert at Mural, tells The i Paper.

“Aguirre’s greatest strengths as a manager are not necessarily tactical. Instead they lie in his vast experience, leadership and ability to motivate players. He is also uniquely placed to help the squad understand what it means to represent Mexico at a home World Cup, having done so himself during the 1986 tournament.

“There are certainly concerns about the side’s overall performances and style of play. El Tri do not appear to have a clearly established playing identity at the moment, which means they often rely heavily on moments of individual quality rather than a well-defined collective system.”

Mexico are still dependent on Wolves striker Raul Jimenez, now 35. There is, nevertheless, huge excitement over 17-year-old Gilberto Mora of Tijuana, the youngest player at the tournament.

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Fifa insists this will be the moment when “three countries and an entire continent” produce “the best and most inclusive World Cup ever”. Along the Texan border, it has not always felt that way, the US military closing airspace over El Paso and investing in lasers to shoot down drones suspected of drug trafficking. Tensions between the US and Mexico are not new but have been inflamed since Trump’s second term began.

In Mexico, the mood is defiant. They have the World Cup’s only beach destinations, some huge knockout games and none of the aggressive searches of players’ luggage that have been witnessed as teams have begun to arrive in the US. However many eyes are trained above the border, Mexico is ready to deliver its share of the bargain.

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INTER & CO STADIUM – After the storm clouds finally cleared, so did the fog of the phony war for Thomas Tuchel.

A week out from the World Cup opener against Croatia and Tuchel’s message was as loud as the thunder that rumbled around downtown Orlando, pushing back the kick-off of this leg loosener against Costa Rica. This, with the exception of the unfortunate Noni Madueke, is England’s team to take on the world.

The big winner in that developing scenario? Barcelona new boy Anthony Gordon, who responded immaculately to Marcus Rashford slamming down the gauntlet at the weekend against New Zealand with a statement of intent of his own.

Rashford had been good in the drudgery of the New Zealand game. But Gordon seems to get the attacking combinations that little bit better than the man he’s replacing at the Nou Camp. In the end that’s probably going to give him the edge when the action gets underway in Dallas next week.

Gordon is that strange case of a player who divides opinion among fans but is almost universally loved by managers. For a player who has just joined Barcelona for the thick end of £70m he didn’t always stand out in Premier League action for Newcastle last year.

But strip away the attritional, physical challenge of getting beyond defenders in the domestic league and he does have a tendency to deliver. A top performer in the Champions League, a World Cup where teams tire in the heat and defenders aren’t quite as well drilled feels like a big opportunity for a player Tuchel loves.

He made England’s opening goal with a trademark burst into the box after just six minutes, squaring for Declan Rice to drive past Patrick Mejias. And he finished the contest off with a well-taken penalty before Tuchel took him off with 20 minutes to go. It felt like job done for the forward.

Given their early pressure the floodgates should have been flung open but for this England side, it’s never that simple.

England predicted XI vs Croatia

Pickford; James, Konsa, Stones, O’Reilly; Anderson, Rice; Saka, Bellingham, Gordon; Kane

They had 80 per cent possession in the Orlando heat but are still searching for cutting edge. Harry Kane forced a fine save with a smart header and then England thought they had a penalty on half-time, only for VAR to intervene and judge the challenge on Gordon to be minimal contact.

Madueke inexplicably missed an open goal, rolling expertly past Meijas only to smack against the post and before the end Morgan Rogers got in on the act, side footing wide with only the goalkeeper to beat. They’re the sort of chances England can’t afford to miss when the serious stuff gets underway but generally this was the best England have played since booking their place at the World Cup.

That comes with a health warning, of course, given the brittle nature of the challenge Costa Rica posed. The second of two games in England’s Florida series, this Orlando jaunt came with all the atmosphere of an afternoon at Disneyland.

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No one really knows what a World Cup in the US is going to look like, but I’d suggest they go down a different route from the organisers here, who had deployed two “hypemen” to say things like “Harry Kane has 61 goals in 51 games, you do the math!”

The sizeable visiting England contingent – drawn to Orlando to earn “caps” which ensure tickets for future tournaments – got the tone just about right when they berated one of the gormless MCs as “just a shit Owen Wilson”. Presumably when the proper stuff starts in the States on Friday they’ll assume the crowd has more than a passing acquaintance with the game.

Costa Rica aren’t at the World Cup and this wasn’t their best side. But even so they barely got out of their own half against an England team who looked much closer to the finished article than they had done on Saturday.

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Everton have been ordered to pay £35m in compensation to Burnley in an unprecedented ruling that could have huge ramifications for the Premier League – and potentially Manchester City with a verdict on their 115 charges looming.

Burnley brought a case against Everton after they breached Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) for the 2021-22 season, which resulted in a 10-point deduction (later reduced to six on appeal) in 2023-24. Burnley’s case – centring around the legal principle of “loss of chance” – argued that their relegation in 2022 was a result of Everton gaining an advantage by not sticking to Premier League financial fair play rules.

They claimed for more than £50m in loss of earnings and brought the first of its kind action under Premier League rules. A three-person panel – the same that gave Everton the original 10-point deduction – decided on a £25m compensation order with nearly £10m of accrued interest.

It’s a decision that sets the cat among the pigeons in legal terms, with experts arguing it opens the door for clubs to bring similar legal actions against rivals who have breached rules. In theory clubs who have missed out on European places or titles could also mount similar cases.

Chelsea, who were fined £10m for making undisclosed financial payments, may be liable while clubs will be lining up if City are found guilty in the Premier League’s “case of a century”. Two years after that case was heard, a verdict is still awaited.

Everton reacted with fury to the ruling, confirming they will appeal it and saying it created a “dangerous and unworkable precedent for English football”. They said in a statement the verdict was “fundamentally flawed in both law and fact” and the club’s anger is intensified by the fact the breach covered a four-year period that extended to June 2022. Burnley were relegated in May 2022.

Sources said it was like “effectively deciding the outcome of the match at 80 minutes”.

How a decision was reached

Burnley employed football finance expert Professor Rob Wilson and Will Daniels as expert witnesses to come up with a statistical model that worked out the impact of transfer spending on points accrued. They worked out that Everton “gained” seven points thanks to their £19.5m overspend.

To do that they used historical “ratings” employed by the gambling industry and performed 100,000 simulations of Everton’s results – and worked out Burnley would have survived if they had not overspent.

Everton’s own expert witness Derek Holt disputed those claims but the panel decided the model was convincing – and awarded Burnley compensation of £26m for lost earnings and revenue.

The impact on Everton

Everton were “shocked” and “angered” by the verdict in a case which the club argued last year had little merit. It is the biggest compensation order one club has ever had to pay another and the Toffees have made the strident point that it would have huge potential ramifications for the Premier League if it is not overturned on appeal.

It’s also been noted that the same three-man panel – David Phillips KC, Alan Greenwood and Nick Igoe – that handed down a ten point punishment for the PSR breach delivered this ruling.

The Friedkin family were aware of the case when they completed the takeover and it will have no impact on summer transfer business or future plans for the club or stadium.

“Evertonians can be assured that ownership are focused, with strengthened resolve, on delivering their vision of returning Everton to the top echelon of English football,” they said in a statement.

Why this matters

The Premier League is already awaiting the result of the City case with bated breath – with several clubs who believed they were denied titles and European qualification having instructed legal counsel to act if the club are found guilty. City deny all the charges and say they have compelling evidence to disprove them.

The impact of that would be far-reaching and would see multiple cases like Burnley’s launched.

Everton believe that, on appeal, the punishment will be overturned or reduced. The only thing for certain is that sports lawyers will continue to be busy.

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