Man City's 17 World Cup stars set to miss Maresca's first days as pre-season begins July 20

Manchester City will begin pre-season preparations on Monday, July 20 — the day after the World Cup final in New Jersey — with new head coach Enzo Maresca set to meet a heavily depleted squad, as 17 of the club’s players remain in North America for the tournament.

City are the most represented club at this summer’s World Cup, and the FIFPro guideline requiring players to take at least four weeks off following their final game of the season means virtually all of them will be unavailable for Maresca’s opening sessions. The Italian, whose appointment was confirmed earlier this week, will instead be introduced to a group that includes goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, Phil Foden and Rico Lewis — all of whom did not feature at the tournament.

Of the 17 City players in North America, only three have so far been eliminated. Abdukodir Khusanov exited in the group stage with Uzbekistan, while Tijjani Reijnders and Nathan Ake were knocked out alongside the Netherlands at the round of 32 on Tuesday. Under FIFPro guidelines, those three could theoretically return in the final week of July, though the club is expected to grant them a longer rest period.

With the bulk of the first team unavailable for the opening weeks of pre-season, City will travel to Asia for a tour at the end of July. Their first pre-season fixture is scheduled for August 1 against Inter Milan in Hong Kong, followed by a match against a K-League All Stars XI in South Korea on August 5, before the tour concludes against Atletico Madrid on August 9.

The competitive calendar then opens quickly. City face Arsenal in the Community Shield at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on August 16, before hosting Bournemouth in their first Premier League fixture of the 2025/26 season on August 23. Whether the majority of their World Cup contingent will be available for either fixture remains to be seen.