Manchester City players are reportedly set to return for pre-season on 20 July, with those involved at the 2026 World Cup expected to receive extra time off.
According to BBC Sport, City’s non-World Cup group will report back first as Enzo Maresca begins work on his first full pre-season as Manchester City manager. The staggered schedule makes sense, given the club’s heavy tournament footprint this summer.
City confirmed before the tournament that they had a major World Cup contingent involved, and Read Man City has already covered how Rodri, Jeremy Doku and Omar Marmoush reaching the knockouts gives Maresca an early workload warning.
Maresca Faces Uneven Manchester City Pre-Season
The 20 July return date gives Maresca an important early window with the players not involved in the latter stages of the World Cup. But the bigger challenge will come later, when City’s international players begin returning in staggered groups.
That will affect fitness work, tactical detail and relationships before a demanding August schedule. City’s official pre-season tour includes fixtures against Inter Milan, K League All-Stars and Atletico Madrid before the new campaign begins.
For Maresca, this is the first practical test of the post-Guardiola era. He needs to build new habits quickly, but he cannot overload players arriving from a draining World Cup.
That balance may shape City’s early weeks more than any training-ground message. The first group back will give Maresca a starting point, but the real work begins when his World Cup players return with different minutes, different recovery needs and very little time to reset.
