Frying squad: England’s World Cup bid fuelled by cooking oil and leftover food
England’s World Cup campaign in the USA, Mexico and Canada is being powered by used cooking oil, leftover food and algae.
The decision to maintain a World Cup training base in Kansas City has meant England are racking up the air miles for matches. A 2,800-mile round trip to Mexico City for Sunday night’s last-16 win against Mexico will be followed by a 2,500-mile journey to Miami to face Norway in the quarter-final this weekend.
CityAM can reveal that, to tackle the climate impact of their flights, the Football Association is using sustainable aviation fuel for their private jets – a fuel that can cost up to five times more than standard jet fuel.
Airlines are mandated by the UK government to use at least two per cent sustainable aviation fuel, rising to 10 per cent by 2030 and 22 per cent by 2040.
Although sustainable aviation fuel is not entirely carbon neutral – due to the energy required to produce and refine it – it does not add new carbon dioxide to the atmosphere in the way fossil fuels do.
If England go all the way to the final, Thomas Tuchel and his squad will have flown more than 9,000 miles. The FA plans to use this approach at future tournaments.
An FA spokesperson told CityAM: “We recognise the amount of flights we take for major tournaments so have offset our fuel for sustainable fuel, not just for this tournament, but we intend to do something similar for the Women’s World Cup in Brazil next summer, too. This is part of our ‘Playing for the Future’ sustainability strategy.”
‘Thousands’ left out-of-pocket after World Cup tickets cancelled
For many supporters, travelling to a World Cup to watch your country is a bucket-list, once-in-a-lifetime moment. Now imagine your ticket being cancelled shortly before kick-off, with a refund issued but no explanation.
That has been the reality for swathes of supporters at the most overpriced World Cup in history. Ticket platform StubHub has been criticised for enabling a practice that has dashed dreams.
The third-party selling platform allows “speculative selling”, where people list tickets they do not yet own. A seller might list a ticket for £500 in December, aiming to buy the ticket for cheaper in order to turn a profit.
But with secondary-market prices skyrocketing during the group stage, many speculative sellers faced huge losses and simply cancelled and refunded tickets – often on the day of the game.
“That’s what happened at a large scale,” Scott Friedman, a ticketing consultant who runs the Ticket Talk Network, tells CityAM. “The price went up so the seller disappears and doesn’t fill the ticket.
“It’s been a devastating World Cup for so many victims who purchased tickets on StubHub and didn’t get their tickets delivered. During the group stage rounds, thousands of fans were affected.”
Supporters – many of whom had already paid out thousands for flights and accommodation – were left to pay exorbitant prices or miss the match. Friedman says he has received more than 600 complaints and believes thousands more have been affected by it.
“It’s ruined so many people’s summers, so many people’s bucket lists, it’s absolutely horrific,” he says.
A StubHub spokesperson told CityAM that “even a single bad experience is deeply disappointing for fans and for us. That’s why, in the rare instance that problems arise, our FanProtect Guarantee provides replacement tickets or a full refund – and why we are working tirelessly to resolve ticket transfer issues and get every fan into their match.”
Wimbledon (finally) caves to World Cup
Wimbledon chiefs were determined to stick to their no-football rule despite this year’s tournament clashing with the World Cup for the first time since 2018.
Even when England’s last-32 match against DR Congo kicked off at 5pm on Day Two, All England Club chief executive Sally Bolton refused to switch the big screens to watch Harry Kane and teammates.
CityAM has been told, however, that in the VIP lounges the England match did eventually appear on television sets. With so many guests watching the match on smartphones, some TVs were tuned into the game for the final throes – just in time to see Kane score the winner which completed England’s dramatic comeback.
Can shorter tennis save Brit decline?
British tennis fans could be forgiven for finding something else to watch this year. The lack of homegrown talent coming through the pipeline was exposed when Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper pulled out on the eve of the tournament.
Fifteen Brits lost in the first round – the highest number since 1988 – leaving 23-year-old wildcard Arthur Fery as the only home hope clinging on in the second week.
Even when fit, Raducanu and Draper will struggle to fill the large Andy Murray-shaped hole left by the three-time Grand Slam champion’s retirement in 2024. But could short-format tennis help produce the next British superstar?
Gary Purcell, development officer at World Tennis – formerly known as the International Tennis Federation – believes the rollout of Tie Break Tens for juniors could be pivotal at a time when fewer young people are watching live tennis in the UK.
In Tie Break Tens, matches are first to 10 points, promoting rapid-fire tennis. “You’re trying to get new players to the sport, young kids,” Purcell tells CityAM.
“The appeal is that it is fast. A tournament lasts two hours. You’re 8 or 9, you lose a match, you move on to the next one. Tie Break Tens isn’t trying to take over the tennis landscape and shorten it. Everyone respects the tradition.
“We’re starting to see it being a success in schools, in clubs, to match boys and girls playing together. Where we’re trying to grow the base of players. If we’re looking at growing the sport it really fits in nicely.”
Unique continues global expansion
The UK-based football agency responsible for some of this summer’s biggest deals has expanded into France.
Shortly after overseeing Anthony Gordon’s £70m move from Newcastle United to Barcelona, Unique Sports Group – founded by agent Will Salthouse – has made a strategic investment in One Team Football, renaming the French agency Unique France.
Salthouse worked alongside One Team founder Michael Menuello on Jeremy Jacquet’s £60m move from Rennes to Liverpool last week.
“When Unique was formed, the ambition was always to build a business that could grow beyond the UK and become one of football’s leading international agencies,” Salthouse said.
The deal adds to Unique’s operations in Germany, Spain, South Korea, Ivory Coast and the UAE.