The World Cup is on but it's also time to start looking forward to next season and Tottenham Hotspur already have a string of fixtures lined up
Tottenham must start looking to pre-season which is probably a good thing as nobody wants to keep looking back at that previous miserable campaign.
The summer brings with it fresh hope under Roberto De Zerbi and the Italian already has four Spurs fixtures ahead in the diary before the Premier League fixtures are released next Friday to fill out what comes next. There's a World Cup to get out of the way first but it won't be too long until the Spurs players start filing through the doors of Hotspur Way again.
With that big competition taking place in the United States, Canada and Mexico, the start of the Premier League season has been pushed back a couple of weeks to August 22. That means De Zerbi's first team players are not expected back to their Enfield training ground to begin pre-season work until the end of the second week of July. Those early days will be about medical and physical work before getting on to the pitches fully at the beginning of the week starting July 13.
Of course various Spurs players will have different staggered return times depending on their international involvements, with some having played in friendlies well into this month and others doing their duty at that World Cup thing.
So what's the first summer game for Tottenham? The club confirmed on Friday that they will be hosting League One side MK Dons at Hotspur Way on Wednesday July 22. Unless another training ground friendly is arranged in the preceding weekend, that could be the first chance for De Zerbi to look over his Spurs squad in a match situation and their early physical status.
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That could mean catch up with those who have had long-term injuries such as James Maddison and potentially Mohammed Kudus and Dejan Kulusevski. It will also allow De Zerbi to make some transfer and loan decisions as he will be able to look more closely at many of the U21s players and those first teamers who have come back from loan.
Very quickly after the game against the Dons next month, Spurs will jet off across to other side of the world to New Zealand to take on Auckland FC on Sunday, July 26 at Eden Park. The following day, De Zerbi's men will head across on a shorter journey to Australia to start their preparations for a fixture against A-League side Sydney FC on Wednesday, July 29 at the Allianz Stadium.
Then to close out their summer tour Tottenham will meet some very familiar Premier League opposition in the Australian city as part of the 2026 Sydney Super Cup. It will be the first match played outside the UK against local rivals Chelsea on Saturday, August 1 at the 83,500-capacity Accor Stadium.
With 21 days remaining of pre-season after that, more friendly fixtures are expected and there's the potential for a game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before the new Premier League campaign begins.