Thomas Tuchel Won't Sing as England Fixtures 2026 Begin in Dallas

Thomas Tuchel will not sing the national anthem when england fixtures 2026 open with Croatia in Dallas on Thursday. He said he knows the words, but still feels too shy to join in when the music starts.

Tuchel and Croatia in Dallas

The England head coach will take the team into its opening Group L match without adding his voice to the anthem before kickoff. He said the anthem is not a problem to learn, adding: "It is not so difficult".

That leaves Tuchel drawing a line between knowing England’s anthem and joining in publicly. The decision is part of the same detached, victory-first approach that has shaped the way he has been described around the job, rather than the broader national symbolism Gareth Southgate embraced.

Southgate's Different England

Southgate treated the England role as a higher calling and wrote an open letter about society’s divisions. Tuchel does not come to the job with that same emotional connection to England’s tournament past.

He has been portrayed as a footballaholic, and John McDermott said, "Thomas is almost Latin in the way he speaks". McDermott also said, "There’s a warmth and there’s a tactileness."

Tuchel's Record Abroad

Those traits sit alongside a manager with a mixed reputation across Europe. Tuchel did not click with the French media when he managed Paris Saint-Germain, and he has been seen in Germany as a hothead after falling out with Joshua Kimmich at Bayern Munich.

McDermott added, "He comes alive when he’s speaking about the team, the players, the games." For England’s opener against Croatia, that means the focus stays on the football in Dallas, not on whether the head coach joins in before the first whistle.