IN PLAY WITH B&K

The 2026 FIFA World Cup commences tomorrow and will be co- hosted in the three different countries of Canada, Mexico and the United States. In this month’s edition ( Volume 3) of ‘In Play with B&K’, our head of sports law Udo Onwere speaks to our long-standing client and football pundit Jamie Redknapp about different aspects of the much-anticipated global tournament.  (3 min read)

Jamie, you played for England in a major tournament in Euro 1996. What will be the mindset of the players approaching such an important moment and honour in their careers? Firstly it’s a career defining honour to be selected for your country in a major tournament. With the current crop, like all of us since 1966, they have the opportunity to create history and join the legends of Moore, Charlton and Hurst. The excitement before each tournament is always good for the fans as everyone is filled with anticipation. With the increased number of team participation, it will be interesting to see if the early round of games produce meaningful and watchable matches.

Who do you regard to be the best players in this tournament from England and other countries? Most people would agree that Harry Kane is our best player, his numbers this season for Bayern Munich have been extraordinary. A solid showing in this tournament puts him in the frame for the Ballon D’or award ( the World’s best player). I love Jude Bellingham too who is a superstar with a point to prove. Other than England players, it will be the usual suspects of Spain’s Lamine Yamal, Norway’s Erling Haaland, and the French have so many brilliant players led by Kylian Mbappe who will be looking to win the tournament having lost after scoring a hat-trick in the Qatar 2022 World Cup Final.

I know you actively follow academy football in the UK, are there any young players in  nations we should be looking out for? There are so many young talented players across the globe, it is difficult to keep up. There are quite a few. Argentina’s midfielder Nicolas Paz, Brazil striker Endrick, Senegal’s Ndiaye, Portugal’s Neves, Ghana’s Yirenkyi, the French magician Cherki and Spain’s trio of Pau Cubarsi,  Pedri and Lamine Yamal.

The rules and regulations of professional football are constantly changing. For example, in this tournament there is likely to be a focus on contact between players from a corner kick. Also there will be the introduction of mandatory drinks breaks. Do you agree with the changes? Because of the climate ( in most matches) the drinks breaks will be necessary especially with the load put on most of these players over the season. Lets hope we are not bombarded with adverts because part of what makes football so engaging is its simple fluidity without too much interference. I suppose that’s one of the things many people dislike about VAR.

Are there any regulations you would introduce? I mentioned VAR just now and I do think it has helped but it’s mantra at the start was ‘ minimum interference, maximum benefit”. It feels a long way from that now at most games with stoppages sometimes running into 4 or 5 minutes. So maybe a rule that prevents VAR from extending its current application in games (although I know there will be a new focus on players jostling against each other from corner kicks as we discussed earlier).

Would you say the widespread use of data analysis has improved the sport? How will we see it utilised in the World Cup? Data has certainly helped and I use it to my advantage in my punditry work. The World Cup will showcase the advancement of data analysis especially when you think the United States have been at the forefront of data analysis in professional sport

Finally, who do you predict will win and why? Spain.