World Cup 2026: Every nation's squad as they are announced
Every squad for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico as they are announced.
Source link
UK in crushing Eurovision defeat as final position revealed after 2026 winner announced
THE UK suffered yet another crushing Eurovision Song Contest defeat in tonight’s grand final.
Look Mum No Computer’s Sam Battle took to the stage to perform his bonkers entry titled Eins, Zwei, Drei.
But it sadly wasn’t enough to win over the voters – landing just one point from the jury and zero points from the public, placing him in bottom spot.
The competition was won by Bulgaria after 25 acts battled it out on stage in Vienna, Austria at the Wiener Stadthalle.
Sam performed his upbeat hit, which was one of our most unconventional songs ever.
Last year’s UK entry – Remember Monday – finished in 19th place after performing What The Hell Just Happened? – landing zero points from the public.
Pop star Dara’s high-energy song Bangaranga secured her the win.
Singer Dara came just ahead of Israel in the world’s biggest music competition, with an estimated audience of 160million.
Bulgaria’s best result is a second-place finish with Beautiful Mess performed by Kristian Kostov at the 2017 contest in Kyiv.
Dara performed a high pace dance routine while belting out her catchy tune in sync with her back-up dancers.
Strictly star La Voix was the United Kingdom’s very first Eurovision ‘spokesqueen’, and delivered the results of the UK’s National Jury live from Salford.
In an exclusive interview before tonight’s final, Sam said: “There are gonna be people that don’t like the UK for the sake of it being the UK, but that’s the way it is. We can’t change that.
“So we’ve just got to crack on. Keep calm and carry on.”
Due to its German title and lyrics about being “sick of munching roly-poly with custard” — and about how pounds “feel counterfeit” and needing “some euros to counter it” — some have interpreted it as an apology for Brexit.
He is also known for his madcap inventions — such as an organ made from Furbies and a synthesiser-equipped bike — which he shares with 721,000 YouTube subscribers.
Sam, 37, was picked for Eurovision by the BBC at the start of the year having made a name for himself by touring across Europe.
Sam recently admitted to The Sun that his song is like “marmite” and Eurovision fans couldn’t have agreed more.
One viewer wrote: “I can confidently say that the UK won’t be winning this year.”
A second posted: “What the hell was that UK Eurovision entry, looked like they picked the act out a pub raffle.”
A third echoed: “UK every year I think you can get any lower but this time I think you managed to do it.”
During tonight’s competition Israeli singer Noam Bettan performed their song Michelle.
At the start of tonight’s show, Graham Norton mentioned the five countries that had withdrawn from the competition.
He also noted that there was a “mixed response” in the hall, adding: “I’m not quite sure what we’re hearing”.
The crowd then booed when Israel’s entry was awarded a huge public vote – landing then in second spot.
Israel’s participation in the singing competition had sparked controversy.
The Eurovision walkouts followed the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) general assembly in Geneva on December 4, 2025.
EBU members voted on new rules to tighten voting and promotion guidelines, but did not put Israel’s participation itself to a separate vote – meaning Israeli broadcaster KAN was cleared to compete.
Within hours, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia all announced their withdrawals. On December 10, 2025, Iceland followed suit.
The boycotters have cited the war in Gaza and concerns over the integrity of recent contests.
Spain was the first of the contest’s Big Five broadcasters – the five biggest financial contributors – to officially confirm it was boycotting Eurovision.
‘Don’t swim’ at 12 of 14 river bathing sites, as more locations announced
“Designating an area as a bathing water before it is suitable for bathing and without a plan in place to clean it up risks confusing the public, who will rightly believe it is safe to swim there,” a spokesman for Water UK, which represents the water companies, told the BBC.
British Steel nationalisation plans announced by Starmer
A precise figure of how much full nationalisation of British Steel could cost has not been announced and it is understood that following legislation an independent valuation would be carried out of the business, to see what, if any, compensation might be due to Jingye.
World Cup trains: Fans feel ‘gouged’ as £111 World Cup train tickets announced
Host cities may have made a commitment to provide transport to games at the usual cost, but the prices in New Jersey and Foxborough go far beyond that.
Not all cities are the same, however.
Free shuttles, external are being offered in Arlington from Centerport Station, and Kansas is charging $15, external (£11) for a return bus to the stadium from four pick-up points.
Philadelphia has said the usual fare of $2.90, external (£2) will remain in place across the six games in the city.
Concannon added that as more high prices are announced, “this sort of stuff is starting to not surprise us”.
“Every single thing coming out of this tournament so far is just fans getting fleeced,” he added.
“With there being no concessionary prices that’s obviously going to impact families, senior concessions as well.
“Who knows what even a pint of beer is going to cost in the normal bars? What’s food going to be like? And then there’s obviously the tipping culture.
“Costs are just getting higher and higher and higher.”
The prices in New Jersey and Foxborough will hit both England and Scotland fans.
The Three Lions take on Ghana in Foxborough on 23 June, and then head to the MetLife to face Panama on 27 June.
Steve Clarke’s Scotland have two games in Foxborough, against Haiti on 13 June and Morocco on 19 June.
Scotland’s third match, against Brazil, is in Miami – and there is still no information on how fans are being transported to fixtures at Hard Rock Stadium.
The cost of parking at stadiums is also very high, with a space at the MetLife costing $225 (£166). Foxborough is priced at $175 (£129) for one car.
“We’ve already seen England fans putting buses on independently run to get to the game in Foxborough from Boston and Providence,” Concannon said.
“England fans are very, very good at looking after each other and working a way to get there as cheaply as they possibly can.
“But this just hasn’t been made easy – again. All this shouldn’t be something that England fans are having to worry about.
“It just goes to show that the organisation hasn’t been great.”
Last week, Fifa put on sale a new batch of tickets under ‘Front Category 1’ and ‘Front Category 2’.
The seats were in the first rows of lower sections and up to three times the price of a regular Category 1 ticket.
As has been the case throughout the sales process, there was no prior warning that these tickets existed or when they would go on sale. Fifa would not comment on its ticket sales policy.
“It’s not a surprise that these things are getting rolled out and ultimately trying to make as much money as possible,” Concannon added.
“And again, it’s just a shame. It’s a real shame to see.”