England have been handed World Cup kick-off times which suit UK audiences – but Scotland fans face later finishes during next summer’s tournament.

England will play all three of their group games in the United States, with their first two matches against Croatia, on 17 June, and Ghana, on 23 June, kicking off at 21:00 BST.

Their final group game against Panama on 27 June, at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium where the final will be played, begins at 22:00 BST.

Scotland will play their Group C games in Boston and Miami, with their opener against Haiti on 14 June at Gillette Stadium kicking off at 02:00 BST.

Steve Clarke’s side’s next two matches, against Morocco in Massachusetts on 19 June and five-time winners Brazil in Miami on 24 June, will both start at 23:00 BST.

England’s opening match in Dallas will be played under a closed roof, with air conditioning in the AT&T Stadium at 15:00 local time, because of the expected heat in Texas.

Their matches in Dallas and Boston – where Scotland play twice – will be on a temporary grass surface, as they normally operate with artificial turf.

England’s match in Boston kicks off at 16:00 local time, while Scotland will play at 21:00 and 18:00 in their two matches at the Gillette Stadium.

Miami, the location of Scotland’s final group match against Brazil – which will kick off at 18:00 local time – is one location extreme heat and humidity might prove an issue during next summer’s tournament.

Should they qualify through two rounds of Uefa play-off matches in March, Wales or Northern Ireland would play all three group matches at 20:00 BST.

They would face Canada in Toronto on 12 June, Switzerland in Los Angeles on 18 June, and Qatar in Seattle on 24 June.

Pubs in England and Wales could stay open until 01:00 next summer if a home nation reaches the quarter-final stage, after the government launched a public consultation on extending pub licensing hours.

All times BST unless stated

England – Group L

21:00, Wed, 17 June v Croatia – Dallas (15:00 local)

21:00, Tue, 23 June v Ghana – Boston (16:00 local)

22:00, Sat, 27 June v Panama – New Jersey (17:00 local)

Scotland – Group C

02:00, Sun, 14 June v Haiti – Boston (21:00 local)

23:00, Fri, 19 June v Morocco – Boston (18:00 local)

23:00, Wed, 24 June v Brazil – Miami (18:00 local)

The match venues and kick-off times for the tournament were confirmed one day after the draw for the group stage took place in Washington DC on Friday.

The first 48-team World Cup will be held in Canada, Mexico and the United States between 11 June and 19 July 2026.

Mexico will take on South Africa at Mexico City’s historic Estadio Azteca in the opening match of the expanded tournament, during which 104 matches will be played in 39 days.

That game – a repeat of the first match at the 2010 World Cup – will kick off at 20:00 BST on Thursday, 11 June.

The World Cup final will kick-off at 20:00 BST on 19 July.

The semi-finals, hosted in Dallas and Atlanta, will also begin at 20:00 BST.

The final match schedule will be confirmed in March, following the conclusion of the Fifa and Uefa play-off tournaments to decide the final six places.

The tournament will be hosted across 16 cities, spanning four time zones and three countries, at locations up to 2,800 miles apart.

Governing body Fifa was urged to avoid afternoon games at several locations next summer, after research led by Queen’s University Belfast found the temperatures at 14 of the 16 stadiums being used could exceed potentially dangerous levels.

Fifa president Gianni Infantino was joined by Brazil’s two-time World Cup winner Ronaldo, Italy’s 2006 winner Francesco Totti, Bulgaria’s World Cup 1994 Golden Boot winner Hristo Stoichkov and former United States centre-back Alexi Lalas to unveil the schedule on Saturday.

Analysis by BBC Sport football issues writer Dale Johnson

England fans face one of the most gruelling travel schedules if they are to follow their team all the way to the World Cup final.

If the Three Lions win Group L and go on to the final, supporters will have to travel 6,468.5 miles.

That is starting off in Dallas and finishing up in East Rutherford, with a total travel time of just under 19 hours.

The flight from Dallas to Foxborough for the second group game, and the trip to Mexico City and back between the last 16 and the quarter-final, accounts for most of it.

England would have less travel as group runners-up, with their journeys amounting to 5,970.4 miles and a total travel time of 18 and a half hours.

Portugal and Spain have it worse, even though they stay in Houston and Atlanta respectively for their first two group games.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal travel 6,781.9 miles with more than 22 hours in the air, while Spain must make trips totalling 6,667.2 miles, which will take 18 hours and 15 minutes.

France fans are the big winners, with just 2,675 miles on the clock, taking 12 and a half hours. They even have the luxury of two short train trips between East Rutherford and Philadelphia. The 1,561-mile journey from Foxborough and Dallas for the semi-final accounts for well over half of the travelling.

Mexico fare second best, largely because by winning their group they would have three consecutive games at the Azteca – from their final group game through to a last-16 tie. Their total travel works out of 3,199.7 miles. At just over 10 hours, El Tri supporters have the lowest travel time.

Third best are Germany on 4,141.5 miles, which would take 15 and a half hours.

And what about Scotland? If they shocked Brazil and Morocco, won their group and went on to reach the final, they would travel 6,083.3 miles taking 18 hours.

If Scotland qualify as group runners-up, there is a little more travel, with 6,248 miles which is just over 18 hours.

The US National Park Service (NPS) is removing Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth from its list of fee-free entrance days.

The move is part of President Donald Trump’s “modernisation” of the park service, which, beginning in 2026, also includes changing the parks’ cost structure to favour American citizens over foreign visitors, following a July executive order from Trump.

In addition to removing the two holidays that celebrate civil rights leader MLK Jr and the end of slavery in the US, the agency is adding Flag Day, which is also Trump’s birthday, as a “patriotic” fee-free day.

People who are not US citizens will still have to pay fees on the fee-free dates, the NPS said.

For the 2026 calendar year, US residents will be granted free access to national parks on President’s Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day/President Trump’s birthday, Independence Day weekend, 110th Birthday of the National Park Service, Constitution Day, Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday and Veteran’s Day.

Previously, Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth were both deemed fee-free entry days by the Biden administration.

Under the Trump administration’s new rules, US residents will continue to pay $80 (£60) for an annual park service pass.

But for non-residents, the cost will rise from $80 to to $250, the Department of the Interior, which oversees the park service, announced last month. Those without a pass will now pay $100 per person, in addition to the standard entrance fee, at 11 of the most visited parks.

“President Trump’s leadership always puts American families first,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum.

“These policies ensure that US taxpayers, who already support the National Park System, continue to enjoy affordable access, while international visitors contribute their fair share to maintaining and improving our parks for future generations,” Burgum’s statement continued.

In May, the department estimated in its budget proposal for 2026 fiscal year that surcharges for foreign visitors would bring in more than $90 million per year.

This is not the first time the Trump administration has targeted Juneteenth and MLK Jr Day.

On his first day in office this year, Trump issued an executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programmes from federal agencies, which led many agencies to bar celebrations of holidays seen as DEI-related, including MLK Jr Day and Juneteenth. However, the two dates remain national holidays.

In June, the Trump administration held a military parade in Washington DC to celebrate the US Army’s 250th anniversary, which also happened to fall on both Flag Day and Trump’s birthday.

The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.

F1 Correspondent in Abu Dhabi

The climax to the Formula 1 world championship could hardly be better set up after the three title contenders qualified together at the front of the grid for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen put in one of the performances of the season – and of his illustrious career – to take a scintillating pole position.

McLaren’s Lando Norris, who heads into the race at 13:00 GMT as championship favourite with a 12-point lead over Verstappen, is alongside the Dutchman on the front row.

The Briton’s team-mate Oscar Piastri, 16 points off the lead, starts third, alongside Mercedes’ George Russell on the second row.

For Norris, the maths are simple – and the task looks the same.

The 26-year-old will be champion for the first time if he finishes on the podium, regardless of anyone else’s result.

Verstappen, 28, would clinch a fifth consecutive title if he wins the race with Norris in fourth, or if he is second and Norris is lower than seventh.

Australian Piastri, 24, needs some kind of misfortune to happen to his rivals if he is to win his first title. He will also head into the race knowing that there is a possibility he could be asked to move aside and help Norris win if his own hopes are over and that is needed for a McLaren driver to beat Verstappen.

Norris kept his answers after qualifying relatively short. He seems to be working hard to keep himself settled and calm as he navigates the most intense weekend of his career.

That’s understandable. Although his path to the title is relatively straightforward, the fact Verstappen’s is not threatens to make the championship leader’s race an uncomfortable one.

With the title on the line, and winning the grand prix not good enough on its own for Verstappen, the race is unlikely to be simple, and what Verstappen and Red Bull might try to get in Norris’ way remains unknown.

“No idea,” Norris said, when he was asked whether he expected Verstappen to try to back him into the pack. “I expect everything. So wait and see.”

Verstappen was asked the same question, both in his BBC Sport interview on Thursday and in the news conference after qualifying on Saturday.

The reference here is Lewis Hamilton’s race in 2016, when he drove slowly in front of Mercedes’ team-mate Nico Rosberg in an attempt to back him into Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, knowing he needed Rosberg to finish third to beat him to the title. It didn’t work.

Verstappen was given this example. His response – both times, with slightly different wording – was to point out that it would be harder to do now, since changes to the circuit have made it less stop-start.

“It was a different layout,” Verstappen said. “I feel like now you get towed around a lot more. So it’s not as easy to do that.

“I felt like it was a lot easier to back it up then because the tyres would get hot. It’s very different times. I hope it’s not straightforward the race, but hopefully that’s not because of me.”

He added: “I want to win tomorrow, but I also know that that’s not enough, even if I win. So I just hope on some Abu Dhabi magic that happens behind me. So let’s see what we get. I just hope it’s going to be an interesting and fun race.”

That comment about “Abu Dhabi magic” is clearly a reference to 2010, when Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso came into the race with a lead over Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Vettel, in a situation pretty similar to this year.

Alonso looked certain to win the title – until Ferrari messed up their strategy, he got stuck in the midfield after an early pit stop, and spent an agonising two-thirds of the race watching his dreams turn to dust as Vettel took the race win and title.

It’s only a week since McLaren made their own strategy mis-step in Qatar, losing the win to Verstappen as a result.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella was Alonso’s race engineer in 2010, so knows plenty about what for him was an Abu Dhabi agony that still hurts today.

In his talks with the team this week, Stella has emphasised how strong their season has been, how far the team have come in such a short space of time, that “bumps on the road are inevitable”, that their culture is “let’s learn from what we could have done better and get stronger”.

As Verstappen put it: “A lot can go well for you, can go against you, and we find out tomorrow.”

Norris was asked how he would balance risk and reward, and he gave another short answer: “We will decide when we have to.”

There is also the possibility of contact at the first corner – Piastri and Verstappen collided there last year, when the Red Bull driver tried an over-ambitious move from fourth on the grid.

Norris, in his position, has the luxury of being able to be conservative here.

Which might explain why Piastri, when asked whether he was going to get his popcorn out ready for some action at Turn One, said: “Turn One I’m not sure,” he said, “but I’ll have some handy.”

He was also asked what he had learned in his career about title showdowns.

“Funny things can happen,” he said. “That’s what I’ve learnt.”

Stella said: “In terms of the options that Max has available to try and place cards, honestly, I’m not too worried.

“I think we will see some interesting racing, but I’m sure all this will happen within the boundaries of sportsmanship and fairness.”

For all three, and their teams, the tension will mount in the hours between qualifying and race.

Even Verstappen, who has looked relaxation personified so far this weekend, admitted to some nerves before qualifying, but said that he fed off them, and they had help him perform.

Commentating with BBC Sport this weekend is Damon Hill, who has experience of two title showdowns, one he lost in 1994 and one he won in 1996.

“The way through this is to just focus on what you do for a living, you do the same job you’ve always done,” Hill said.

“You speak to the engineers and try to make the car go faster and one of the things that is a solace is to get back to the job you do.

“Once you have things rattling around your head, you can’t concentrate. It’s very important to have calmness.

“You know when you lie down in bed at night, there’s that gap when you lie down before you go to sleep? You try sleeping when you can be world champion or not.

“You need sleep. You need energy and to not burn the energy and it’s about managing that side of things.

“It’s intense. It’s what you’ve always wanted.

“Lando remarked earlier this weekend how it had been 16 years trying to get to this point and the title would mean everything.

“He has a weight on his shoulders and he does know that there’s a threshold and on Sunday he’ll know whether he has crossed that threshold and joined that exclusive club of ours of British world champions.”

It’s supposed to be a TV series about Los Angeles’ biggest and most beautiful homes – but the people selling them often steal the show. And the latest episodes of Netflix reality series Selling Sunset, now in its ninth season, have started a debate about how to deal with a friend’s “toxic” partner.

Two stars of the programme – real estate agents Chrishell Stause and Emma Hernan – have been feuding on and off-camera over Emma’s boyfriend Blake Davis, who Chrishell dislikes.

It boiled over during an end-of-season reunion and led to online debates about how, or even whether, you can stay friends with someone whose partner you dislike.

We’ve spoken to a woman with first-hand experience of that dilemma and two relationship experts about what to do in this tricky situation.

In the show, Stause, 44, says she’s never approved of Hernan’s relationship with property developer Davis. She claims he “love-bombed” Hernan early in the relationship and that there were “huge red flags”. Love bombing often involves someone showering a partner with gifts, attention and various promises.

Hernan has told Netflix’s online publication she “doesn’t fault” Stause for trying to protect her but that she would like Stause to “step back and realise” her level of love and support. She has also said: “I have enjoyed my time with him… Everyone can say what they want – or they can either love him or hate him. But ultimately, it’s my choice who I end up with.”

Some of us will have experienced similar situations first-hand.

Hannah, who didn’t want to give her last name, told BBC News she fell out with her long-time friend, Georgia – not her real name – over a partner.

Hannah says Georgia “had a history of dating not very nice people” and moved away from London with a new partner who “proposed to her fairly quickly, I think within about a year”.

It felt like Georgia was “under his spell” – and then on a night out before the wedding, Hannah says, Georgia’s fiancé made sexual comments about Hannah. “He came over to me and started to tell me all the things he wanted to do to me in a very graphic, explicit way.”

She says the experience was “very uncomfortable” and “came out of nowhere”.

When Hannah told Georgia about it a few days later, Georgia “tried to minimise it and was saying things like ‘he does that with all his female friends’ and I was trying to explain to her that he was saying really inappropriate things”, Hannah says.

Relationship expert and counsellor Anna Williamson, who works as a dating expert on Channel 4’s Celebs Go Dating, says trying to support a friend if you’re concerned about their partner can be difficult.

It’s important not to judge or tell them what to do, she says. Judging your friend can lead to them behaving defensively, but finding the line between supporting and judging is a “real challenge”.

“We need to be really careful to compartmentalise our own emotions and not project onto a friend, as they might not recognise they’re in a toxic relationship,” she tells the BBC. “They might be carrying feelings of shame and masking it.”

She advises starting a conversation with a friend by telling them something like: “I care about you so much but I want to check in because I’ve noticed that you seem really stressed lately.”

Williamson adds it is important to “stick to facts” and only discuss things with them that you have observed. She recommends avoiding phrases such as “I really don’t like them”, “I think they’re toxic” or “I think they’re abusive”.

If you still want to see your friend but don’t want to be around their partner, Williamson says it can be handled delicately. “I’d say something like, ‘I really care about you, but I need to take some space from your partner because I’m not comfortable with their behaviour, but I really want to spend time with you.'”

It’s also important to make sure you have support around you, as looking out for someone else all the time can be draining, she says.

Yasmin Shaheen-Zaffar, a relationship and trauma counsellor, says that from watching Selling Sunset, some of the tension comes from cast members talking behind each other’s backs and then being confronted about it later on.

“Avoid gossiping and talking about your friend or about their partner to others who could whip up hysteria,” Shaheen-Zaffar tells the BBC. She says it’s important to “keep yourself safe” because anything you say “could be taken out of context or used against you”.

What if you disagree with the views or values of a friend’s partner?

On Selling Sunset, Stause and Hernan argue over Davis’s views on politics.

Davis was set to appear on the ninth season of Selling Sunset, but had his scenes cut after another storyline involving Hernan was deemed more relevant. It’s not known whether any of the scenes featured disagreements between Davis and Stause, but Hernan has denied that Davis expressed “political views” in front of Stause.

Shaheen-Zaffar says that ultimately you “have to respect individual people’s decisions” and “try to remain civil” if you still want that friend to be part of your life. “I think we have developed a culture where if someone doesn’t agree with what we think we don’t like them,” she says.

This is not the advice she says she would give if someone is being openly “bigoted”, but more if they just have views you don’t agree with. “It takes a lot of self-development and digging deep to understand and accept other people’s views,” she adds.

Whether you can cope with a friend’s partner’s conflicting views depends on what “aligns with your values”, she says.

Sometimes, a partner’s actions may be too much for you – and it can break friendships entirely.

After what happened with Georgia’s partner, Hannah came to the conclusion that she could not see her friend again if she chose to stay with him.

“I told her ‘I love you, the door is always open but I can’t have him in my life’ – he wasn’t a good, healthy presence and I was very uncomfortable and frightened,” Hannah adds.

She says Georgia and her haven’t spoken since and the friendship ending “really hurt”. She and Georgia had “been friends for a long time and had a lot of fun together” – although she ultimately wouldn’t have done anything differently in hindsight, she says.

Ronnie O’Sullivan turned professional in 1992

Youngest ranking event winner

 

Just over 32 years ago, O’Sullivan became the youngest winner of a ranking event when he captured the UK Championship title.

O’Sullivan defeated Alan McManus, Nigel Gilbert, Ken Doherty, Steve Davis and Darren Morgan before beating Stephen Hendry 10-6 in the 1993 final.

He was aged 17 years and 358 days and it set him on the trajectory to establish numerous other records over the years.

O’Sullivan has compiled 17 maximum breaks over his trophy-laden career but his first in a professional arena is arguably his most memorable and the quickest ever recorded.

It came during the first-round of the 1997 World Championship, with his nickname sticking after he registered a 147 in five minutes and eight seconds, against a stunned Mick Price.

His average shot time was just 8.8 seconds.

Now how about halting play when on eight points to ask if there is a prize for a maximum break?

That’s exactly what O’Sullivan did during his win over Mark King at the 2010 World Open.

And then having been told there was no specific prize for a 147, he had to be persuaded to pot the final black by referee Jan Verhaas.

Despite having played only one competitive match all season after taking a sabbatical from snooker, O’Sullivan remarkably won the 2013 World Championship.

Astonishingly he did not lose one session in the tournament and when he defeated Barry Hawkins 18-12 in the final he became only the third player after Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry to defend his title at the Crucible (since then, Mark Selby has become the fourth).

In that contest, O’Sullivan also became the first player to make six century breaks in a world final.

Judd Trump, John Higgins and Neil Robertson all have more than 1,000 century breaks to their name but Ronnie O’Sullivan was first to reach that landmark and currently has the most with 1,313.

He achieved the feat in March 2019 on his way to victory over Australia’s Robertson in the Players Championship final.

O’Sullivan set a new record for the fastest match in Crucible history in 2020, when it took him just 108 minutes to complete a 10-1 first-round demolition job on Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

It shaved 41 minutes off the previous mark set when Shaun Murphy thrashed Luo Hong Hao 10-0 in the first round in 2019.

O’Sullivan arrived at the Crucible in Sheffield in 2022 having returned to the top of the world rankings for the first time since 2019.

And it was not the first time. He regained top spot in the world in March 2019 after a nine-year wait at the age of 43 with his Tour Championship success over Neil Robertson.

That triumph was also notable at the time as it enabled him to match Hendry’s then record of 36 ranking titles.

Having won his sixth Crucible crown in 2020, it only seemed a matter of time before O’Sullivan reached his seventh.

And having equalled Davis’ record of 30 appearances at the famous Sheffield venue in his first-round match against David Gilbert in 2022, he went on to claim an 18-13 win over Judd Trump in to equal Hendry’s record for titles in the modern era.

Aged 46 at the time, he was the oldest world champion in Crucible history, eclipsing Ray Reardon, who won his sixth title aged 45 in 1978.

O’Sullivan became the oldest UK champion with a 10-7 victory over Ding Junhui as he claimed a record-extending eighth title in York.

The Englishman’s triumph arrived just two days before his 48th birthday and three decades on from being the youngest player to win the UK Championship, aged 17.

He also remarkably holds the same record at the Masters, which he first won in 1995, with his eighth success coming in January 2024.

Imagine achieving snooker perfection, not once but twice in a best-of-11 encounter. That is exactly what O’Sullivan accomplished in his 6-3 victory over Chris Wakelin in their Saudi Arabia Masters semi-final earlier this season.

In the process, he became oldest player to make a maximum as he delivered a stunning exhibition of cue-ball control.