Round about the capital of Germany, you can hear a famous supporters’ anthem sporadically break out. It’s a song most familiar for the refrain: “It’s coming home,” it goes, “it’s coming home – football’s coming home!”.
It has a catchy tune and wistful lyrics, first composed 28 years ago, when England hosted the European Championship and a pair of TV comedians combined with musicians for Three Lions, tapping into the longing of those who follow the English national team to replace decades of frustration with a single triumph in a major trophy.
The prize is still elusive, but closer on Sunday in Berlin, where England’s so-called Lions meet Spain in the Euro 2024 final, than it has been at any time except three summers ago when England reached the final of the last Euros, losing to Italy on penalties.
That was at home, at Wembley in London. Victory on Sunday, in a foreign city, would give extra oomph to the idea of bringing “football home”.
The song, the chant, the claim of home-ownership over the world’s most popular sport sometimes irritates opposing players.
If England – or at least Britain – can lay some claim to inventing football under its current rules, and, in the shape of Premier League, England is certainly home to the most globally popular domestic league, there is a long list of European nations who can regard themselves as far truer homes for elite international success.
England v Netherlands player ratings
Spain would be among them: in this century alone, they have lifted two Euros titles, which is two more than England ever have.
But the past counts for only so much, except when history imposes a burden of expectation. The Three Lions song made a catchphrase of the line “30 years of hurt”, counting back the three decades between England’s 1966 World Cup triumph, at home and those 1996 Euros.
That longing for a major trophy now stretches to 58 years. “I want to win so much on Sunday it hurts,” says Gareth Southgate, the head coach who has taken England far nearer to a major title than anybody in his job over those 58 years – a World Cup semi-final in 2018, now the finals of successive Euros – but still found himself being jeered by fans after a second successive dull draw on the trot in the group phase of the current campaign.
England have been sluggish for long phases of the tournament, a poor sum of their many gifted parts. The criticism has often been venomous. What Southgate has worked diligently at is transferring the pressure away from his players.
Like all international coaches, the detailed tasks of bettering players is largely beyond his remit and mainly down to their club coaches, with whom they work for nine months a year. And here’s one intriguing aspect of this final. This England’s team, man for man, have in large part been improved, directly or indirectly, by exposure to Spanish football.
Southgate’s most dynamic midfielder, 21-year-old Jude Bellingham, has just won a league and Uefa Champions League double with Real Madrid and if his club form has not been consistently replicated for his country over the last four weeks, Bellingham kept England alive at the Euros with a 95th-minute, improvised overhead volley to take a losing cause against Slovakia in the last-16 meeting into extra time.
Spain 2 France 1 - in pictures
A similar, knife-edge suspense was broken, in the 90th minute of the semi-final against the Netherlands, substitute Ollie Watkins completing a comeback – England have gone 1-0 down in every knockout match – with a fine, angled match-winner. Watkins’ rise up the professional ladder is relatively unusual in that, in his early 20s, he was still playing in the third tier of English football, at Exeter City.
What’s more usual is that he has climbed to a peak under the guidance of a Spanish coach. In just under two seasons under the studious tutelage of Unai Emery at Aston Villa, Watkins has become twice as effective a Premier League goalscorer as he had been under Emery’s predecessors at the club.
Scan through Southgate’s preferred outfield players and it’s rare to find one whose game has not been shaped by Spain. Kieran Trippier, like Bellingham, won the only league title of his career there, at Atletico Madrid. Kyle Walker, John Stones and reigning Premier League Footballer of the Year Phil Foden bring a tactical flexibility and confidence to England that has been nurtured by Pep Guardiola’s coaching at Manchester City. Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka have advanced their development under Mikel Arteta at Arsenal.
Fair to report that Arteta and Guardiola have seen their players perform with far more panache in the jerseys of Arsenal and City than for England in Germany. England topped their group, but did so via a narrow win over Serbia, a draw – again having taken a lead – against Denmark and a goalless stalemate versus Slovenia.
“We weren’t playing at the level we wanted,” Southgate acknowledges. “That was the coaching challenge. How do we fix what we’re doing? In the end that’s the job. The job is to allow the players to perform at their best.”
Put brutally, England have done that in isolated moments, saved by Bellingham’s acrobatics, by Saka’s superb equaliser against Switzerland in the quarter-final; by immaculate conversions in the penalties against the Swiss and by Harry Kane from the spot to draw level against the Dutch; and by Watkins.
Put optimistically, at least for the tens of thousands of England supporters filling out the boulevards of Berlin, the best is yet to come. A team including Kane, shy of the form that made him the Bundesliga’s leading scorer with Bayern Munich last season, Bellingham, Foden, Rice and Saka must be overdue a truly commanding 90 minutes.
Spain, victorious in all six of their matches at the Euros, and winners against Croatia, Italy, Germany and France on the way to win final, have enjoyed a series of such performances. They carry much the stronger momentum, thriving on the kind of expansive width that England, especially on their left, have conspicuously lacked.
Lamine Yamal, the Euro 2024 revelation, turned 17 on Saturday. Nico Williams celebrated his 22nd birthday on Friday, and If ever two young men have had a coming-of-age tournament, this is it.
Spain’s tyro wingers, with a tournament goal each and four assists between them, have given La Roja a new dimension, says head coach Luis de la Fuente. “We needed to add something to our traditional strengths,” he said ahead of the final.
“We are recognised around the world for our controlled style, our passing combinations, but what was missing was being able to shift to a faster game, to counter-attack. We’ve made the team less predictable. The key is having the players for it.”
Spain will press high up the field, entrust the outstanding Rodri, of City, to impose midfield command and if, just ahead of Rodri, Dani Olmo continues to shine as he did against Germany and France, they will not miss Pedri, ruled out of the final with a knee injury.
Form says clearly that this European Championship trophy should be coming home to Spain, where, after all, it was housed for eight years between 2008 and 2016.
For England, almost 60 years unfulfilled, Southgate admits: “There’s still some questions to answer.”
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FIGHT CARD
From 5.30pm in the following order:
Featherweight
Marcelo Pontes (BRA) v Azouz Anwar (EGY)
Catchweight 90kg
Moustafa Rashid Nada (KSA) v Imad Al Howayeck (LEB)
Welterweight
Mohammed Al Khatib (JOR) v Gimbat Ismailov (RUS)
Flyweight (women)
Lucie Bertaud (FRA) v Kelig Pinson (BEL)
Lightweight
Alexandru Chitoran (BEL) v Regelo Enumerables Jr (PHI)
Catchweight 100kg
Mohamed Ali (EGY) v Marc Vleiger (NED)
Featherweight
James Bishop (AUS) v Mark Valerio (PHI)
Welterweight
Gerson Carvalho (BRA) v Abdelghani Saber (EGY)
Middleweight
Bakhtiyar Abbasov (AZE) v Igor Litoshik (BLR)
Bantamweight:
Fabio Mello (BRA) v Mark Alcoba (PHI)
Welterweight
Ahmed Labban (LEB) v Magomedsultan Magemedsultanov (RUS)
Bantamweight
Trent Girdham (AUS) v Jayson Margallo (PHI)
Lightweight
Usman Nurmagomedov (RUS) v Roman Golovinov (UKR)
Middleweight
Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Steve Kennedy (AUS)
Lightweight
Dan Moret (USA) v Anton Kuivanen (FIN)
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Seven tips from Emirates NBD
1. Never respond to e-mails, calls or messages asking for account, card or internet banking details
2. Never store a card PIN (personal identification number) in your mobile or in your wallet
3. Ensure online shopping websites are secure and verified before providing card details
4. Change passwords periodically as a precautionary measure
5. Never share authentication data such as passwords, card PINs and OTPs (one-time passwords) with third parties
6. Track bank notifications regarding transaction discrepancies
7. Report lost or stolen debit and credit cards immediately
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Tips for used car buyers
- Choose cars with GCC specifications
- Get a service history for cars less than five years old
- Don’t go cheap on the inspection
- Check for oil leaks
- Do a Google search on the standard problems for your car model
- Do your due diligence. Get a transfer of ownership done at an official RTA centre
- Check the vehicle’s condition. You don’t want to buy a car that’s a good deal but ends up costing you Dh10,000 in repairs every month
- Validate warranty and service contracts with the relevant agency and and make sure they are valid when ownership is transferred
- If you are planning to sell the car soon, buy one with a good resale value. The two most popular cars in the UAE are black or white in colour and other colours are harder to sell
Tarek Kabrit, chief executive of Seez, and Imad Hammad, chief executive and co-founder of CarSwitch.com
PROFILE BOX
Company name: Overwrite.ai
Founder: Ayman Alashkar
Started: Established in 2020
Based: Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai
Sector: PropTech
Initial investment: Self-funded by founder
Funding stage: Seed funding, in talks with angel investors
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Liverpool v West Ham United, 4.30pm (UAE)
Southampton v Burnley, 4.30pm
Arsenal v Manchester City, 7pm
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The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
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Company profile
Name: Thndr
Started: October 2020
Founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: pre-seed of $800,000
Funding stage: series A; $20 million
Investors: Tiger Global, Beco Capital, Prosus Ventures, Y Combinator, Global Ventures, Abdul Latif Jameel, Endure Capital, 4DX Ventures, Plus VC, Rabacap and MSA Capital
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Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
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Torque: 356Nm @ 4,700rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
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Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
The%20specs
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Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
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The five pillars of Islam
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
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Why your domicile status is important
Your UK residence status is assessed using the statutory residence test. While your residence status – ie where you live - is assessed every year, your domicile status is assessed over your lifetime.
Your domicile of origin generally comes from your parents and if your parents were not married, then it is decided by your father. Your domicile is generally the country your father considered his permanent home when you were born.
UK residents who have their permanent home ("domicile") outside the UK may not have to pay UK tax on foreign income. For example, they do not pay tax on foreign income or gains if they are less than £2,000 in the tax year and do not transfer that gain to a UK bank account.
A UK-domiciled person, however, is liable for UK tax on their worldwide income and gains when they are resident in the UK.
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UK's plans to cut net migration
Under the UK government’s proposals, migrants will have to spend 10 years in the UK before being able to apply for citizenship.
Skilled worker visas will require a university degree, and there will be tighter restrictions on recruitment for jobs with skills shortages.
But what are described as "high-contributing" individuals such as doctors and nurses could be fast-tracked through the system.
Language requirements will be increased for all immigration routes to ensure a higher level of English.
Rules will also be laid out for adult dependants, meaning they will have to demonstrate a basic understanding of the language.
The plans also call for stricter tests for colleges and universities offering places to foreign students and a reduction in the time graduates can remain in the UK after their studies from two years to 18 months.
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ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi
Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
Rating: 4.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
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- 600-seat auditorium
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Why seagrass matters
- Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
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The five pillars of Islam
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Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
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Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
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4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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