England begin their World Cup campaign against Croatia on Wednesday evening.
Thomas Tuchel’s side have had to wait nearly a week to play their first group game and will be eager to make a strong first impression to take control of Group L.
60 years on from their first and only World Cup triumph, England are determined to get off to a good start against a familiar foe and know that victory would give them an excellent chance of progressing to the knockout stages.
England were famously beaten by Croatia in the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and will be out for revenge in their first meeting at the World Cup since they lost to an extra-time strike from Mario Mandzukic.
Which channel is the England game on, and who are the pundits?
ITV are set to broadcast England’s opening group stage game of the 2026 World Cup against Croatia.
Between them, public UK broadcasters ITV and BBC have the rights to all 104 games at this summer’s tournament in the US, Mexico and Canada.
ITV, though, will kickstart the coverage of England’s campaign as they take on Croatia in Dallas before the BBC broadcast England’s second group game against Ghana on Tuesday, 23 June.
Kick-off for the Croatia game is at 9pm BST, with coverage starting from 8pm BST.
Former England internationals Ian Wright and Gary Neville are expected to be among the pundits, with Roy Keane also likely to front the coverage alongside presenter Mark Pougatch.
Sam Matterface is expected to be lead commentator, with former England full-back Lee Dixon on co-commentary.
While not named among the list of ITV pundits for the tournament, former Croatian international Slaven Bilic has previously worked with the broadcaster and could potentially be drafted in while former Chelsea Women’s boss Emma Hayes has provided analysis throughout the tournament.
ITV have yet to confirm the lineup for the game.
Full list of ITV pundits:
Roy Keane
Ian Wright
Gary Neville
Patrick Vieira
Karen Carney
Ange Postecoglou
Juan Mata
Emma Hayes
Duncan Ferguson
Jobi McAnuff
