There was a great honour for both Thiago and Corentin Tolisso on Tuesday. Spain’s new prime minister Pedro Sánchez met the national team at the Royal Spanish Football Federation’s Ciudad del Fútbol training centre, where Thiago and his team-mates are busy preparing for the World Cup. Ahead of their departure for Russia, the PM bid farewell to La Roja and presented World Cup and Euro winner Andrés Iniesta with an award for services to Spanish football. Fellow Bayern midfielder Tolisso was also given presidential support for the upcoming tournament: France’s football-crazy head of state Emmanuel Macron paid a visit to the Equipe Tricolore’s training centre in Clairefontaine, and sent the team off on a mission when he told them: “A competition can only be deemed a success when it’s been won!”
Cup draw this Friday
Record cup winners Bayern München will find out who their opponents are in the first round proper of the 2018/2019 DFB Cup this Friday evening at the German Football Museum in Dortmund. Following the Germany v Saudi Arabia friendly, the draw will be made live during the sports programme ARD-Sportschau-Club, under the supervision of German FA president Reinhard Grindel.
All matches will be played between 17 and 20 August. As was the case last season, all further draws will take place on the Sunday following each round from 6pm onwards, and will be shown live on the sports show ARD-Sportschau.