21 Days to Go: 21 Days to Go: The names not on the bus

France manager Didier Deschamps named his final 26-man World Cup squad on 14 May, leaving out Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga despite 28 La Liga starts this season. Mbappe travels with a semitendinosus muscle injury; Real Madrid rested him for the final La Liga fixtures. Deschamps confirmed this is his last World Cup in charge.

The selection trades squad depth for tactical certainty, betting that Mbappe recovers in 21 days and that France's established midfield trio can carry the load without Camavinga's dynamism. Read full version ↓

Christian Pulisic scored twice for AC Milan against Cagliari on 11 May, ending a 134-day goal drought. He is now joint top scorer in Serie A 2025-26 alongside Lautaro Martinez, both on seven goals. Milan won 5-1.

The timing removed a pre-tournament narrative problem for the United States, whose squad Pochettino names on 26 May. Pulisic's place was never in doubt, but heading into a home World Cup in form rather than out of it matters. Read full version ↓

Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann named his final 26-man World Cup squad on 21 May via individual DFB Instagram videos rather than a press conference. Borussia Dortmund striker Deniz Undav, scorer of 25 goals this season, earned inclusion; Nagelsmann confirmed Joshua Kimmich as captain first. Manuel Neuer has reportedly reversed his post-Euro 2024 retirement.

The announcement was delayed from 12 May to let the Bundesliga season conclude. Germany face the United States in a pre-tournament friendly in Chicago on 6 June. Read full version ↓

England manager Thomas Tuchel included Trent Alexander-Arnold in a 55-man provisional World Cup squad on 12 May, ending three consecutive omissions. Ben White's knee injury at West Ham opened the spot; Alexander-Arnold now plays for Real Madrid. Jude Bellingham's hamstring injury is worse than Real Madrid's medical staff initially expected.

With the final 26 due on 30 May, England face the possibility of entering the tournament without their most dangerous midfielder. Tuchel called it a race against time. Read full version ↓

UNITE HERE Local 11, which represents around 2,000 workers at SoFi Stadium, held a rally on 19 May with California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer. The union widened its demands to include a California data-protection investigation into FIFA's accreditation data handling, a guarantee against AI job displacement, and transparency over hospitality firm On Location's involvement. FIFA had still not responded to an NLRB charge filed 13 days earlier.

The dispute centres on the opening ceremony at SoFi on 12 June. FIFA's silence is a standard response in host-country labour disputes, but the CCPA demand opens a legal track that could outlast the tournament. Read full version ↓

A mobile stitching machine arrived at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey during the week of 12 May to install the Hybrid grass surface required by FIFA. Around 20 truckloads of Tahoma 31 bermudagrass came from North Carolina after the original local supplier lost their crop to winter cold. The target playable date is 13 June for the Brazil versus Morocco opener.

MetLife hosts the World Cup Final on 19 July. The 600-mile supply chain and 38-day establishment window are tighter than planned, but comparable Copa America installations at NFL venues met similar timelines. Read full version ↓

Curacao named their first-ever World Cup squad on 18 May under 78-year-old manager Dick Advocaat. The Caribbean island nation has a population of roughly 160,000, making them the smallest nation by population ever to qualify for a World Cup. Cape Verde and Uzbekistan also finalised their debutant squads on the same day.

All three nations qualify under the expanded 48-team format introduced for 2026, which created new CONCACAF and AFC pathways that would not have existed under the old 32-team structure. Read full version ↓

Giovanni Malago formally filed his candidacy to lead Italian football's governing body FIGC on 14 May. Rival Giancarlo Abete did the same. Malago already has more than 50% of the assembly votes locked in after Italy's top three professional leagues and the players' union all declared for him. The 22 June election at Rome's Cavalieri Waldorf Astoria is now effectively decided.

Malago's stated plan includes recruiting Pep Guardiola or Paolo Maldini into Italian football governance. The deeper context: Italy has missed the last two World Cups, and the federation needs a reset figure with political reach as much as football expertise. Read full version ↓

FIFA confirmed on 11 May that Katy Perry, Future, Lisa of Blackpink, Anitta, Rema and Tyla will perform at the World Cup opening ceremony at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The ceremony runs 13 minutes on 12 June, 90 minutes before the United States open against Paraguay. Production company Balich Wonder Studio is behind all three host-nation ceremonies, a first for the tournament.

The six-act lineup maps FIFA's broadcast-market priorities: a US anchor, a K-pop export, a Brazilian act, and two African artists covering the fastest-growing football audiences in the 2026-2030 cycle. Read full version ↓