Sports
‘I don’t digest food properly now’: The all-consuming pressure of managing a football club
Pep Guardiola’s list of symptoms is long and unsettling. He has trouble sleeping. He can only take light meals in the evening. On some days, he does not eat at all. He finds it difficult to read because his mind keeps wandering. He feels, at times, intensely lonely. Things can get so bad that they begin to take on a physical form: bouts of back pain, breakouts on his skin.
They are not isolated to moments like the one in which the Manchester City manager finds himself trapped, when his team are locked in a tailspin he has spent the better part of two months trying and failing to halt. By his own admission, he is always like that. Guardiola cannot sleep, or eat, or relax even when things are going well at work.
Manel Estiarte, perhaps Guardiola’s most trusted confidant, used to call it the “Law of 32 minutes”. Estiarte had spent enough time with Guardiola to calculate precisely how long his friend might last talking about another subject — literally any other subject — before his mind wandered back to football.
That image has long since been folded into Guardiola’s mythology. He is the obsessional genius, his brain forever fizzing and whirring, a synapse permanently set to fire. His teams at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and then City represent his ideas made flesh, given perfect form. His brilliance has been constrained only by the limits of his imagination.
The cost of that dedication, though, has been laid bare over the last couple of months. As City’s form has slumped, Guardiola has given at least two unusually bleak interviews: first to the Spanish chef Dani Garcia, and then to his former team-mate, and longstanding friend, Luca Toni on Prime Video Sport. He told the former of the “loneliness of the football manager”, and how he found that — in defeat — there is “no consolation” once “you close that bedroom door and turn off the light”.
To Toni, meanwhile, he detailed the impact on his health: the skin problem he has been dealing with for “two (or) three years”, the problems with sleeping and eating. “I don’t digest food properly now,” he said, as if the metabolic shift is permanent. Sometimes, he said, he “loses his mind”.
Guardiola during Manchester City’s 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace this month (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
That he was so matter-of-fact about it — that he could insist he was “fine” just a few days later — may well be because none of it is new, not really. He struggled to sleep in his final year at Barcelona. In 2019, when City beat Liverpool to the Premier League title, he had long since stopped eating on matchdays. He said in 2018 while speaking at the University of Liverpool that he could not read books to relax because “I start reading and before I know it I am reading about Jurgen Klopp”.
It may also, though, be because it has become the standard reality of those in his profession. Management has always been stressful. Many of Guardiola’s most famous antecedents — Bill Shankly, Arrigo Sacchi — either resigned or retired because of the strain the job placed on them. The man he identified as the greatest opponent he had faced, Klopp, stepped away from Liverpool for similar reasons.
It has, too, always been a vocation largely reserved for the single-minded, the pathological, the fanatical. And yet even those who choose to do it, again and again, would acknowledge that it appears to be extremely bad for you.
Richie Wellens, the Leyton Orient manager, told The Athletic this year that he can no longer grow a beard because of the stress of the job; Nathan Jones, once of Stoke City and Southampton, used to bite his nails so feverishly that he drew blood. As far back as 2002, (vaguely unscientific) experiments showed that some managers were under such stress during games that they suffered irregular heartbeats.
“I definitely didn’t feel healthy at the end of my time at Chelsea,” Emma Hayes, now in charge of the United States’ women’s team, said last month. “I don’t want to say it’s pressure. I just think it’s the stress, the toll it took on me.”
It is tempting to say that is inevitable, given the scale of the football industry, the money at stake, the unwavering scrutiny of the media. And yet, in some senses, management should be less, rather than more, stressful now.
Hayes walks away after an altercation with the then-Arsenal Women manager Jonas Eidevall in March (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Most clubs have stripped back the burden of the post: technical or sporting directors take care of recruitment; chief executives handle contract negotiations; whole departments exist to analyse games and coordinate scouting. Shankly could not call on a psychologist, a specialist set-piece coach, or a nutritionist.
Yet it appears to have made little effect; management has not become more manageable. Ange Postecoglou, the Tottenham Hotspur manager, might have been exaggerating a touch when he suggested it was the “hardest job in any walk of life”, but it was not difficult to follow his reasoning.
“You can say politics, but this is harder,” he said. “The tenure and longevity of this role now means you go into it and very few are going to come out without any scars.” Asked to compare it to being the prime minister of an actual country, he said: “How many times does he have an election? I have one every weekend, mate. We have an election and we either get voted in or out.”
In part, that can be attributed to the fact that while football has delegated responsibility behind the scenes, it has not done so in front of the cameras. The manager, particularly in England, more often than not remains the only public face of the club.
“They have to comment on everything,” Michael Caulfield, a sports psychologist who works with Brentford, among other clubs, told BBC Radio 5 Live last week. “From Covid to Brexit to anything you care to mention: potholes, traffic, the price of hamburgers. Football is not good at sharing that workload. It is too much for one person.”
Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler at his unveiling in July (Steven Paston/PA Images via Getty Images)
That anachronism has practical benefits — as an executive at one club has noted, privately, it makes life easier if certain questions are asked of a manager who can legitimately say they do not know the answer — but it creates the impression that the absolute responsibility for the wellbeing of a club rests on one person’s shoulders.
But far more significant is the fact that football, essentially, actively discourages managers to switch off. Guardiola might be seen as an exception, but he is also presented as a model; the obsessiveness that has been central to his legend for the last decade and a half has created a blueprint for how a manager is supposed to be.
It is telling, for example, that Fabian Hurzeler — the 31-year-old head coach at Brighton — does not watch television or movies but does read books about “mindset”.
“What is the mindset from high-performance people? People like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg. I like to understand how they behave, how they get so successful,” he said this season. Fabian Hurzeler’s reading materials are his own business, but this does not sound like switching off.
Indeed, most Premier League managers struggle to describe how they relax. Many exercise, of course — a notable percentage are very fond of padel, with Hurzeler one of several lobbying his club to build a court at their training facility — but genuine outside interests appear to be scarce.
Nuno Espirito Santo likes to “go to the window and look at the River Trent”. The night before he was summarily dismissed by Wolves, Gary O’Neil had allotted time to finish watching the film Wonka with his children. He knew it was “important to switch the brain off”. But he also knew exactly how long he had left. “I will try to switch off for an hour and six minutes,” he said.
The River Trent running by Forest’s ground. Their manager Nuno finds solace in watching the river (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Caulfield described Thomas Frank, his head coach at Brentford, as being unusually well-balanced for a manager — he plays padel (obviously), he skis, he spends time at his house in Spain, he has friends who have nothing to do with football — but even he has admitted his “brain is thinking about the next game” in almost every waking moment during the season.
He sometimes, he said, watches interior design programs on television with his wife. But only because she “forces” him to do it. Roberto Martinez, now managing Portugal, told The Telegraph in 2015 that he had designed his living room so it could contain one sofa and two televisions: one for his wife to watch normal television, and the other for him to watch football matches.
None of this, of course, is healthy. The League Managers Association, the umbrella body that lobbies on behalf of both current and former managers in England, has published a handbook to encourage its members to find some form of work-life balance; it is at pains to point out that they cannot function to their utmost if they are drained and fatigued.
“That is the biggest problem,” said Caulfield. “Football is exhausting. That culture of ‘be there seven days a week’ has to stop at some point. Managers have to manage their own energy as much as their players. We are not designed to work seven days a week, 24 hours a day, under that pressure and scrutiny.”
Guardiola would, it seems, be proof of that. The symptoms of what it is to be a manager are worse now, of course. He always suffers more after defeats. But it is not so different when things are good; he has been dealing with them for years. “I think stopping would do me good,” he told Garcia, the chef, in one of those stark interviews.
He knows that, and yet he will not. He will, like so many of his peers, keep coming back for more.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
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The wait is officially over. The FIFA World Cup has arrived.
For the first time ever, three nations—the United States, Mexico, and Canada are co-hosting the tournament. It is also the largest FIFA World Cup in history, expanding to a 48-team field. Squads from around the world have arrived in North America with one ultimate goal: capturing the iconic World Cup trophy.
Here’s the latest look at some of the most notable news surrounding the World Cup.
June 12:
Official Injury Update On Neymar
Brazilian star Neymar Jr. will officially miss Brazil’s opening match against Morocco on Saturday. Neymar was named to Brazil’s 2026 FIFA World Cup squad despite a calf injury, and now won’t be available early on. Manager Carlo Ancelotti said that “Neymar is working very hard to recover as quickly as possible.
“The expectation is that he will recover and rejoin the group next week.”
Google Doodle Has World Cup Fever
In case fans didn’t already have World Cup fever, they can open their web browser.
Google is officially ready for USA’s opener against Paraguay, as the home page features a custom, USA-themed Google Doodle.
The Doodle features red text with a blue outline, as well as a soccer ball along with an interchanging USA crest replacing the “O’s” in Google.
James Cordon Stretches With Christian Pulisic
James Corden joined Christian Pulisic and the United States men’s national team for a training session ahead of their World Cup opener against Paraguay.
After meeting with head coach Mauricio Pochettino and going through a film session with the players, Corden and Co. hit the pitch for practice, where he helped serve as a water boy.
Corden tried to help Pulisic stretch out his legs after practice before he was stopped by a member of the coaching staff. As Corden walked off, Pulisic sprayed him with a water bottle.
DR Congo Arrives to the World Cup in Style
The DR Congo men’s national team isn’t set to play until Wednesday, June 17, against Portugal in Group K, but they’ve already made a statement upon arrival in Houston, Texas.
The squad arrived in style, stepping off the plane in striking black, jaguar-inspired outfits that quickly turned heads. The bold look fits their nickname, Les Léopards, and sets the tone for their World Cup presence before they even face Portugal.
DR Congo may be heavy underdogs, but they’re already winning where it counts off the pitch, taking the fashion battle before kickoff.
Canada’s Jesse Marsch Takes Dig At USA
The Canadian men’s national team is set to face Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday afternoon. Ahead of the match, head coach Jesse Marsch took a subtle jab at the United States men’s national team during his remarks on Thursday.
“In the U.S., we had to beg players to sing the national anthem,” Marsch said.
The United States conducted a months-long search for a new head coach in 2023, with Marsch emerging as the frontrunner and making it clear he wanted the job. Instead, they chose to rehire Gregg Berhalter, a decision that may have left Marsch with some lingering resentment.
Marsch’s subtle jab could take on added stakes if the United States and Canada meet during the FIFA World Cup. The two nations could potentially face off as early as the Round of 32 or the Round of 16.
June 11:
The pressure of competing in the 2026 FIFA World Cup is high, but that hasn’t stopped players from enjoying some downtime with their teammates. Norway star Erling Haaland was spotted at the Stanley Cup Final between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Carolina Hurricanes.
Haaland appeared to be enjoying himself as the Hurricanes secured a Game 5 victory, taking a 3-2 series lead over the Golden Knights. The Manchester City striker drew plenty of attention from fans in attendance as he took in the action from the stands.
The Norway star was seen celebrating in the stands before turning his attention back to international duty, with Norway set to face Iraq in Group 1 play on Tuesday, June 16.
Australia Coach Popovic Signs Extension
Australia coach Tony Popovic has signed a contract extension through early 2027 on the eve of his team’s World Cup opening match against Turkey on Saturday.
Football Australia said Friday that the 52-year-old Popovic’s deal now extends through the Asian Cup, which will take place in January and early February in Saudi Arabia.
The former Australia international was hired in September 2024 and led the Socceroos to qualification for the 48-team tournament.
“I’m proud to lead my country into a World Cup, but most importantly, I want to ensure that our team is fully prepared and focused on our group matches against Turkey, the United States, and Paraguay,” he said of Australia’s opponents in Group D.
Canada Captain Sidelined For Opening Match
Canada’s captain and star defender Alphonso Davies will miss Canada’s World Cup opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Davies’ status has been questionable due to an ACL tear and other injuries during the club season, which limited Davies to appearing in two of Canada’s last 21 games.
Davies is one of the co-host’s more valuable players in terms of talent and experience, including 58 appearances in nine years with the national team. However, Davies’ injury does not rule him out of the entire tournament. His injury update and restraint from the opening match serves as a caution to heal his injury as the group stage unfolds.
After playing for the Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS, Davies transferred to Bayern Munich, where he’s played since 2019. Canada is set to play Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12, followed by Qatar on June 18 and Switzerland on June 24.
Captain Wataru Endo Withdraws From World Cup
Just ahead of Japan’s opening match against the Netherlands on June 14, captain and midfielder Wataru Endo has withdrawn his name from Japan’s World Cup squad and paired it with his national team retirement, per his statement on X. Endo has been dealing with an ongoing ankle/foot injury since February.
Endo has played for the Japan national team for over a decade, where he made 73 appearances and scored four goals. As a veteran anchor in the midfield, Endo has also served as Japan’s captain since their previous World Cup in 2022, where they reached the Round of 16.
As for Endo’s professional career, he first played for Shanon Bellmare from 2010-15, followed by the Urawa Red Diamonds from 2016-19, VfB Stuttgart from 2019-23 and has played for Liverpool FC since 2023. With Liverpool, Endo played a prominent role in the team’s Carabao Cup victory in 2024.
With Endo out, Japan has officially called Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder Shuto Machino to join the 26-man roster. Machino is entering his second World Cup and his fifth year with the Japan national team.
Marco Senesi Called Up To 26-Man Roster
Following the injury of defender Leonardo Balerdi, Argentina has officially called up defender Marcos Senesi to the 26-man roster. Argentina is set to open their World Cup campaign on June 16 against Algeria.
Senesi has been training prior in case of a last-minute call-up, and was named to the roster after Balerdi’s muscle injury was ruled out. Senesi has played professionally since 2016, playing for clubs like San Lorenzo, Feyenoord, AFC Bournemouth and is currently with Tottenham Hotspur.
Joining Senesi in the back are defenders Lisandro Martínez, Nicolás Otamendi and Cristian Romero.
In what’s likely to be Lionel Messi’s last World Cup, Argentina will look to repeat their historic 2022 World Cup win this tournament.
Tyler Adams, USA Celebrate Shocking Knicks’ W
Tyler Adams, United States’ midfielder, is a fan of the National Basketball Association’s New York Knicks. The Knicks are in the NBA Finals, on the eve of the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, so members of the United States’ squad gathered together to watch what turned out to be the largest NBA Finals comeback in history, with the Knicks coming out on top.
When New York won, the room erupted, with Adams especially going wild. And we know this because the reaction was caught on camera in the moment.
That couch is destroyed, but at least no one watching the game ended up as damaged as it did after Adams went climbing and kicking all over it! If the United States ends up having a major comeback or win in the World Cup, maybe keep the players away from any obstacles like that, though. Just to be safe.
Morocco Loses 2 Players To Injury Before World Cup
Morocco replaced two injured players in its World Cup squad ahead of an opening game against Brazil, including star winger Abde Ezzalzouli.
FIFA confirmed late Wednesday that former Barcelona player Ezzalzouli and Marseille defender Nayef Aguerd were withdrawn from the Morocco squad for the tournament.
Ezzalzouli helped Real Betis qualify for next season’s Champions League and was a potential breakout star at the World Cup. Aguerd was a cornerstone of Morocco’s historic semifinals team at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
They were replaced by Amine Sbai of French club Angers and Marwane Saadane, who plays in Saudi Arabia for Al Fateh.
Morocco opens against Brazil on Saturday at MetLife Stadium near New York, then plays Scotland on June 19 near Boston and finishes Group C against Haiti on June 24 in Atlanta.
Ezzalzouli injured his right knee in a warmup game against Norway last weekend, though initial tests suggested he could be retained in coach Mohamed Ouahbi’s squad to play in the knockout rounds.
Surprise World Cup Comeback For Austrian Midfielder
The last time Dejan Ljubicic played for Austria was nearly three years ago. Now a teammate’s injury has given him a surprise comeback at the World Cup.
Austria coach Ralf Rangnick called up Ljubicic late Wednesday to replace key midfielder Christoph Baumgartner, who injured his right thigh while warming up for a pre-World Cup friendly against Tunisia last week and needed surgery.
Ljubicic is set to join Austria at the team camp in Santa Barbara on Thursday, ahead of the team’s first game on Tuesday against Jordan. Austria also plays Argentina and Algeria in Group J.
He’s more of a defensive midfield option than Baumgartner, who scored 17 goals in all competitions for Leipzig in Germany last season and has remained in camp to support the team.
Ljubicic also plays in Germany on the Schalke team which secured promotion from the second division last month.
Ljubicic has nine games for Austria but none at a major tournament. His last appearance was in a friendly against Moldova in September 2023, and he wasn’t in the squad for any World Cup qualifiers.
CHICAGO — Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani was out of the lineup Friday against the White Sox after exiting the game before with discomfort in the back of his left knee.
Manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani had imaging done on the knee and showed “the normal wear and tear.”
“He feels fine-ish,” said Roberts, who hopes Ohtani will be back in the lineup this weekend. Ohtani remains in line to make his next pitching start on Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rays at Dodger Stadium.
Especially at this point in the season, the Dodgers have incentive to play it safe with Ohtani’s recovery. Pushing him to return early and exacerbating the injury would be a larger blow to a team seeking its third straight World Series championship.
With Ohtani out, left fielder Alex Call was in the leadoff spot, and Santiago Espinal served as the designated hitter.
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With the largest World Cup field in the history of the tournament, 32 of the 48 teams will be fighting for a spot in the knockout stage.
66.6% of nations will advance out of the group stage this summer, which is a massive upgrade from 50% in past World Cups. Because of this, sportsbooks have adjusted with less favorable odds.
Prior to the start of the tournament, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, England, and Germany entered with the strongest odds to advance from the group stage, supported by recent major-tournament success and talent-rich rosters.
All five nations are heavily favored at -10000 to advance to the knockout round.
The Spaniards are the defending European Champions while the Argentinians are looking to win back-to-back titles. Germany has not made it out of the group stage in the last two World Cups, but has always been a perennial contender— having won four titles in its history. And then of course there’s Brazil, which has more titles than any country with five.
Now, after the conclusion of the first day of the World Cup, Mexico has joined the group at the top. El Tri has surged to -10000 to advance to the knockout stage after initially being just -1400. Mexico’s huge leap up the oddsboard is a direct result of its dominating 2-0 win over South Africa.
With that in mind, let’s dive into the odds for each team to advance to the knockout stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup as of June 12.
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Odds to Advance to Knockout Stage
Spain: -10000 (bet $10 to win $10.10 total)
Argentina: -10000 (bet $10 to win $10.10 total)
Brazil: -10000 (bet $10 to win $10.10 total)
England: -10000 (bet $10 to win $10.10 total)
Mexico: -10000 (bet $10 to win $10.10 total)
Germany: -10000 (bet $10 to win $10.10 total)
Portugal: -5000 (bet $10 to win $10.20 total)
France: -5000 (bet $10 to win $10.20 total)
Belgium:-3500 (bet $10 to win $10.29 total)
South Korea: -2500 (bet $10 to win $10.40 total)
Switzerland: -1800 (bet $10 to win $10.56 total)
Netherlands: -1400 (bet $10 to win $10.71 total)
Morocco: -1000 (bet $10 to win $11 total)
Colombia: -1000 (bet $10 to win $11 total)
Uruguay: -1000 (bet $10 to win $11 total)
Canada: -1000 (bet $10 to win $11 total)
Ecuador: -900 (bet $10 to win $11.11 total)
Norway: -900 (bet $10 to win $11.11 total)
United States: -750 (bet $10 to win $11.33 total)
The U.S. men’s national team is currently -750 to advance from Group D (Photo by Omar Vega/USSF/Getty Images).
Croatia: -500 (bet $10 to win $12 total)
Austria: -500 (bet $10 to win $12 total)
Türkiye: -500 (bet $10 to win $12 total)
Ivory Coast: -500 (bet $10 to win $12 total)
Japan: -500 (bet $10 to win $12 total)
Egypt: -340 (bet $10 to win $12.94 total)
Algeria: -310 (bet $10 to win $13.23 total)
Scotland: -310 (bet $10 to win $13.23 total)
Senegal: -230 (bet $10 to win $14.35 total)
Sweden: -230 (bet $10 to win $1435 total)
Bosnia and Herzegovina: -220 (bet $10 to win $14.55 total)
Paraguay: -205 (bet $10 to win $14.88 total)
Iran: -200 (bet $10 to win $15 total)
Czechia: -165 (bet $10 to win $16.06 total)
Ghana: -140 (bet $10 to win $17.14 total)
Australia: -110 (bet $10 to win $19.09 total)
DR Congo: +100 (bet $10 to win $20 total)
Raúl Jiménez helped propel Mexico to a 2-0 win over South Africa in the opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup (Photo by Yair Gonzalez/Jam Media/Getty Images).
Saudi Arabia: +105 (bet $10 to win $20.50 total)
Tunisia: +140 (bet $10 to win $24 total)
New Zealand: +150 (bet $10 to win $25 total)
Uzbekistan: +180 (bet $10 to win $28 total)
Cape Verde: +200 (bet $10 to win $30 total)
Panama: +200 (bet $10 to win $30 total)
Qatar: +275 (bet $10 to win $37.50 total)
South Africa: +320 (bet $10 to win $42 total)
Jordan +350 (bet $10 to win $45 total)
Iraq: +450 (bet $10 to win $55 total)
Haiti: +800 (bet $10 to win $90 total)
Curaçao: +1000 (bet $10 to win $110 total)
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