Non-League and Academy football writer

In the following piece, I’ll be writing a bit of a fan’s preview of the excellent Love Football (2026) Inner City (London) men’s 11-a-side tournament. This famous annual tournament, which is once again being played at Wanstead Flats in east London, features 24 national teams as part of the men’s 11-a-side tournament. The group-stages start at 10:00am tomorrow morning (Saturday), and it promises to be a great two days of football. A high standard of football with a lot of quality on show, a number of the players who are participating in this tournament play non-League football.

Last year’s winners, Honduras, have been drawn in Group D of the competition for this year. They will be looking to win the Inner City World Cup again, but in their group this year is Turkey, Sao Tome & Principe, and Italy. In my opinion, one of the groups of the tournament is Group A. Including past winners Iraq (I think that they have a great chance of winning the cup again this year) and Colombia (last year’s runners-up), they will also face Ireland, who return for this year’s edition of the tournament, and a talented Ukraine side.

Teams who weren’t in the men’s 11-a-side tournament last year, in 2025, include Nepal, Kosovo and Jamaica. It’s going to be a great two days of football, and although it’s very difficult to predict who will win this edition of the tournament, I personally think that Iraq will be one of the teams, having seen their very talented squad, who could really do very well again at this year’s Inner City World Cup. They were unfortunate to be knocked out by Spain on penalties last summer, in a tournament which they went the duration of without conceding a goal in normal time. However, this will certainly be a superb couple of days of football, and I wish all of the participating nations/teams all the very best of luck, and I look forward to seeing people who I know from grassroots and non-League football when I attend, on the Saturday.

The group-stages: 

Group A: Iraq 

Ukraine 

Colombia

Ireland 

Group B: Nepal

Poland 

Bolivia 

Bangladesh

Group C: China 

Romania 

Argentina 

Zimbabwe

Group D: Turkey 

Italy 

Honduras 

Sao Tome & Principe

Group E: Japan 

Kosovo 

Ecuador 

Mauritius 

Group F: Kyrgyzstan 

Spain 

Brazil

Jamaica

Some pre-tournament reading: 

https://nonleagueandacademyfootballwriter.co.uk/2026/06/03/an-interview-with-the-jamaica-inner-city-london-world-cup-teams-manager-rhys-shirley-clarke/https://nonleagueandacademyfootballwriter.co.uk/2026/06/03/an-interview-with-the-jamaica-inner-city-london-world-cup-teams-manager-rhys-shirley-clarke/

An interview with the Italy (Italia Estero) Inner City (London) World Cup team’s founder and goalkeeper, Giovanni Schettino: