England have turned to a British hot water bottle maker for help coping with the extreme World Cup heat ahead of their tournament opener against Croatia in Dallas tonight.

High temperatures are expected to be a defining feature of this tournament – with dangerous conditions possible in 14 of the 16 host cities – and, while boasting some of the world’s best players, England rarely thrive in such climates.

To tackle the problem, Steve Kemp, England’s head of physical performance, medicine and nutrition, has purchased 30 Ice Recovery Bottles from Yuyu, which cost £26. Players wrap the 90cm-long bottles – frozen overnight and kept in cool boxes – around their necks and across their arms during water breaks and at half-time.

“My first invention was a long hot water bottle,” founder and CEO Richard Yu tells City AM. In 2010, frustrated with traditional hot water bottles, he created a longer, thinner version that launched in Harrods and quickly became one of its fastest-selling products.

Ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Team GB approached Yu to produce a cooling equivalent. The invention has since been used by Formula 1 drivers and is a fixture with tennis players at Queen’s Club this month.

“There isn’t really anything out there apart from wet towels,” Yu adds. “Wet towels are just… wet towels. They take so long to prepare.”

The water breaks – the first of their kind at a World Cup – have been identified as key moments for marginal gains, from USA head coach Mauricio Pochettino gathering his players around a laptop for tactical analysis to teams deploying performance-enhancing methods.

“Teams are being more scientific about how they cool the players,” Yu says. “With more emphasis on the effect the temperature has on the players you’re looking at these breaks as performance windows. How can you cool them down and make them perform better? You need a product that’s purpose built.

“You can’t wheel out an ice bath in a three-minute break. Our product is practical to use, easy for staff to prepare and take away. It’s an intelligent product.”

End of the rainbow armbands

Fifa has told every nation at the 2026 World Cup that captains are not permitted to wear their own rainbow armbands in support of LGBTQ+ causes.

The issue caused a major storm at the Qatar World Cup when Fifa refused to allow nations to wear the “OneLove” armband, placing the English Football Association in an uncomfortable position.

The FA had written to Fifa three months before the tournament stating their intention to wear it, only to be told ahead of their first game against Iran that it would be banned – a particularly controversial stance in a country where homosexuality is a criminal offence.

In a hastily convened meeting, the FA said it was prepared to pay fines for breaching kit regulations, but Fifa warned players would be booked or told to leave the field. Unwilling to risk captain Harry Kane facing a sporting sanction, the FA backed down. Instead, Kane wore a £500,000 rainbow Rolex to his pre-match press conference.

City AM can reveal that Fifa held pre-emptive talks with nations, explaining that only its approved armbands will be permitted. Sources familiar with the conversations claimed no governing body protested at the decision. Fifa offers a series of armbands that support education and inclusion.

Ever-impartial Infantino predicts World Cup winner

Fifa once prided itself on impartiality, but that standard has slipped under Gianni Infantino.

His cosying up to Donald Trump ahead of the volatile US president hosting the World Cup was the subject of a complaint by global advocacy group FairSquare. Part of the eight-page complaint included awarding Trump a newly created “Fifa Peace Prize” in December. Three months after receiving the award, Trump launched a war against Iran, one of the countries he was about to host.

In the latest masterclass in neutrality, on his way into the Estadio Azteca for the opening ceremony Infantino was asked by Stats Perform who he believed would win the World Cup. He chose Spain.

Levi’s marketing jeanius

Speaking of masterclasses, Levi’s pulled off a sensational viral stunt after Fifa blocked its logo from appearing on the stadium it sponsors.

For last Saturday’s match between Qatar and Switzerland at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium – as Fifa decrees it must be called during the World Cup – the red logo was covered, but the white sheet still revealed the company’s distinctive batwing silhouette.

On Instagram, Levi’s posted clips of the signage, visible outside the stadium and inside above giant screens, with the caption: “Welcoming the world to the beautiful [redacted] stadium!” At time of writing, it had been liked more than 500,000 times and became a major online talking point, with over 6,000 comments. The brand also changed its profile picture to the white version.

The iconic denim manufacturer has paid around $400m for naming rights to the San Francisco 49ers’ home and as a merchandise partner since it opened in 2013, in a deal that runs until 2043. Possibly the only way the stunt could’ve been bettered is if they’d covered it in denim.

Fifa following Qatar playbook for empty seats

Swathes of empty seats at kick-off that miraculously filled shortly after became a familiar sight at the Qatar World Cup in 2022. And the mysterious phenomenon is back this year.

Fifa was forced to issue a statement after large sections of the Akron Stadium in Guadalajara were empty for the Czech Republic’s defeat to South Korea last week. The official attendance was recorded as a shade under stadium capacity and Fifa insisted the figure was based on tickets scanned, rather than tickets sold.

Still, the claim that “several ticketed fans could be seen standing in concourses rather than staying in their assigned seats throughout the match” was met with scepticism.

Fewer than half of the first 12 matches had a full attendance. Around 1,500 tickets in the uber-expensive hospitality areas were unsold for the Netherlands’ game against Japan, so Fifa let volunteers at the AT&T Stadium fill them instead.

Which is one way to avoid embarrassing photographs of empty seats. The other would be not to charge exorbitant, rip-off prices.