England: Thomas Tuchel drops fresh hint over 'right time' to sing national anthem

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Evening Standard

·14 November 2025

England: Thomas Tuchel drops fresh hint over 'right time' to sing national anthem

German previously said he had to earn the right to sing the national anthem

Thomas Tuchel has hinted that the World Cup might be the right time to start singing the national anthem before England games.

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Tuchel said when he was first hired as head coach that he had to first earn the right to sing the English national anthem with good performances from his side.

The German is the third foreign head coach of the England national team after the late Sven-Goran Eriksson of Sweden and the Italian, Fabio Capello.

Tuchel’s side are yet to concede a goal in World Cup qualifying with only Sunday’s Albania game to go after their 2-0 win over Serbia at Wembley on Thursday.

Asked whether he remembered what he had said about earning the right to sing the anthem before doing so, the German replied: “Yes! You think it [the right to sing it] is already there?”

Pressed on whether he might choose to join in with signing the anthem ahead of England’s games at the World Cup in North America next summer, he said: “I will think about it. Yeah, maybe. Let’s see. Let’s see.”

Substitutes Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham and Eberechi Eze all made a positive impact against Serbia and Tuchel is convinced strong impact from the bench will be vital next summer.

“Of course. We play in 40 degrees. We play after a long season. We are maybe the nation that suffers the most in international football from a long [club] season. 100 per cent we will need substitutions, hopefully in the late stages of the World Cup.

“If you see the nations that win, if you see the teams in the Champions League that win, the bench is on their feet in the last eight or ten minutes. There is no one sitting and thinking why am I not [on]. They are just there. I experienced this at Chelsea. Everyone was pushing.”

Thomas Tuchel made full use of his England squad in the 2-0 win over Serbia

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The qualifier in Tirana on Sunday is England’s final match of 2025 and Tuchel was asked whether he knew how many changes he would make for that game.

“I’m not there yet,” he said. “Now, some of the guys are pretty tired. We saw already the physical input.

“We will not take risks with any players. Playing are used to playing Thursday-Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday, so it’s not a problem. But let’s see and do an assessment.

“Then we have two training sessions. [In September], four or five guys trained their way into the Serbia match with outstanding training. The door is always open; I haven’t decided yet.”