Football: the main stories of 26.09.2026

England lost at Wembley 3-2 to the world champions, and most of the damage was their own. With the score 2-2 on 51 minutes, Harry Kane hit the crossbar from the spot after VAR penalised Rodri's contact on Jude Bellingham. Two days earlier Thomas Tuchel had called Kane a "full package" who deserves the Ballon d'Or. Lamine Yamal scored after winning the ball high up the pitch, which he said was what his coach had asked for, and Mikel Oyarzabal won it for Spain. Tuchel blamed "too many mistakes" and said Spain were calmer. Two of the costly errors came from Manchester City players the day after their club was found guilty on almost all the financial charges against it, although Tuchel said he had not seen it distract anyone.

Spain also want to host the finals. The federation has applied to UEFA to stage them from 9 to 13 June 2027, with the Bernabéu proposed as the venue. Separately, FIFA has barred Fenerbahçe from registering new players for three windows over money still owed to Sevilla for Youssef En-Nesyri, who no longer plays for the club. Fenerbahçe say they will pay the €3m and get the ban lifted quickly. Willy Sagnol has left his job as Georgia coach, the country's federation announced.

• Croatia beat Czechia 2-1, Switzerland beat North Macedonia 3-0, Finland beat San Marino heavily, and Kazakhstan drew 1-1 with the Faroe Islands.
• Kylian Mbappé went off holding his left knee after scoring for France against Turkey. Spanish reports count it as his seventh injury since he joined Real Madrid.
• Mohamed Salah is out of Egypt's game against South Sudan because it is being played on an artificial pitch.
• Marc ter Stegen started in Germany's draw with the Netherlands but will not keep goal against Greece.
• Bruno Fernandes did recovery work instead of training with Portugal on the day before they play Norway.
• Albert Gudmundsson went off with a shoulder injury playing for Iceland, which has worried Lazio.
• Rostov have given Dmitri Kirichenko a two-year contract, and Aleksandr Gatskan and Anton Rogochiy will join his staff. The agent of Rostov player Konstantin Kuchaev says the club owes its players money.
• Rafael Márquez took charge of Mexico for the first time in a friendly against Colombia in Baltimore. One outlet reports that Gilberto Mora rescued a point in a 1-1 draw.
• Alexia Putellas scored her first WSL goal as London City Lionesses beat Brighton 2-0 and moved up to second. Manchester City won 1-0 at Charlton with a free-kick from Alex Greenwood and have won every league game so far.
• Milan will offer €40m for Sporting's Gonçalo Inácio in January, according to Corriere dello Sport.
• Next in the Nations League: Germany v Greece, Norway v Portugal, Serbia v Netherlands, Wales v Denmark (17:00 BST), and Israel v Ireland in Hungary after Ireland decided not to boycott the match. Northern Ireland play Ukraine in Slovakia, and Michael Oliver will referee Turkey v Italy.