Day 29 until kickoff
Twenty-nine days. The squads aren't fully named yet, the kits are still dropping, and FIFA just tried to sell you a collectible jersey that comes with — and I cannot stress this enough — a hanger as a selling point. Welcome to the final stretch.
England's May 22 Announcement Is the One to Watch
The biggest squad reveal still outstanding belongs to Thomas Tuchel, and England Football confirmed the date: Friday, May 22. Tuchel names his 26-player squad, then speaks live from Wembley in a show streamed exclusively through the England app. Very 2026 of them.
What makes this one worth circling: England's group is genuinely interesting. Per the Fox Sports group breakdown, they face Croatia, Ghana, and Panama — a path that looks manageable on paper but has "trap game" written all over it if Tuchel gets the squad selection wrong. The Croatia opener in Dallas on June 17 is the first real test of whether this England side has actually turned a corner or is just a more expensive version of the same old heartbreak machine.
England head to Florida first for a pre-tournament camp, with warm-up matches against New Zealand (June 6) and Costa Rica (June 10) before the competitive stuff begins. Tuchel will want those games to answer real questions — not just about fitness, but about whether his system holds up against organized defensive blocks.
Sky Sports notes that all 48 squads must be registered — between 23 and 26 players, including three goalkeepers — by Tuesday, June 3. Scotland's Steve Clarke goes earlier, on May 19. The full picture snaps into focus over the next three weeks.
FIFA's $375 Jersey Is a Masterclass in Missing the Point
FIFA launched a collection of limited-edition host city jerseys this week, priced at $375 each. Sixteen cities, 999 pieces per city. If every jersey sells, The Athletic calculates, FIFA clears just under $6 million from the collection.
The first four — New York/New Jersey, Boston, Seattle, and Kansas City — went on sale Thursday. About 24 hours later, none had sold out in any size. That's a problem when you're billing something as a collector's item.
The Athletic's piece is worth reading in full because it makes a sharp distinction: the $375 price point isn't really the issue. Trading cards sell for millions. Adidas and Nike charge $150–$175 for standard team jerseys made in far larger quantities. The real problems are that the designs don't translate well from poster art to fabric, and the production run of 999 is too high to generate genuine scarcity. A truly limited drop of, say, 100 pieces with sharper design execution would have sold out in minutes and generated ten times the cultural buzz.
Instead, FIFA is counting a jersey hanger and a cardboard box as "value-adding items." The "Certificate of Authentication" — their capitalization — is doing a lot of heavy lifting for a shirt that, as of writing, is still available in your size.
The Roster Clock: Three Weeks Left, Real Stakes
CBS Sports confirms that coaches across all 48 nations are finalizing selections now, with the June 3 registration deadline creating a hard wall. The Neymar question — will Brazil include him? — remains the most-watched individual decision, but it's far from the only one.