Thomas Tuchel has been the England manager since January 2025. In that time he has stood silently through God Save The King at every match. He is German. He does not feel he has earned the right to sing it yet. He has said, publicly, that he will join in if England reach the World Cup final. Until then: silence, respect, observation from the touchline.
On Wednesday night, before England beat Croatia 4-2 in Dallas, Tuchel could not observe from the touchline. He could not observe at all. Fifty photographers were positioned directly between the technical area and the pitch, forming what Tuchel described as “a wall, half a metre away,” and he could not see a single one of his players during the national anthem. “I was standing in front of a wall of 50 photographers,” he told reporters after the match. “And I could not see one single player. And it ruined my experience a little bit.”
He then announced he is petitioning FIFA to change the policy. “I’m begging FIFA to change the position of the photographers in the national anthem, because I could not see my team.” This is a man who is not singing the anthem formally requesting that the staging arrangements be rethought so he can watch the anthem properly. The commitment to silent observation is apparently quite strong.
To be fair to Tuchel, there is something genuine here. He has spoken repeatedly about the specific moment of the squad singing together as a ritual he finds moving. He reportedly watches the players’ faces during the anthem as a way of reading their focus and emotional readiness before the match. This is not an empty complaint. He uses the moment. He just does not use it vocally.
The two things that make this story what it is: first, that the anthem situation produces more column inches per tournament than almost any actual football development, because England fans feel strongly about a German man declining to sing their song; and second, that Tuchel managed to lose that specific argument, the right to watch the anthem, on the same night his team won 4-2 and he delivered what reporters called an effective half-time team talk.
England won. Kane scored twice. Tuchel saw none of the anthem. He is appealing.
When the manager of the England football team wins his opening World Cup game and his biggest complaint is the photography logistics during a song he has decided not to sing, what exactly is the priority?
Sources
GB News: Thomas Tuchel left furious after national anthem incident in England World Cup win over Croatia
GB News: Thomas Tuchel will only sing England national anthem on one condition
GB News: World Cup Day 8 live blog
