16 Stadiums, One London Cab: The Maddest Road Trip of England’s World Cup

Two men. Three countries. 10,000 miles. 39 days. 16 stadiums. One World Cup. Englishman Ollie Jenks and his Canadian friend Seth Scott are attempting to drive to every venue used at this summer’s tournament — in a traditional London black cab named ‘Abby the Cabby’. The deadline is fixed: they must finish before the final kicks off in New Jersey on 19 July. It sounds ridiculous. Anyone following England around North America this summer knows exactly why it isn’t.

The challenge: 16 stadiums, 39 days, one black cab

The maths is brutal. Sixteen stadiums spread across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Roughly 10,000 miles of road. Thirty-nine days to do it in. The vehicle was built for crawling through Soho, not for crossing the Arizona desert in July.

The deadline isn’t symbolic either. The World Cup ends on 19 July at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, and the pair intend to be parked up before kick-off. Every hour lost at a border crossing or in a garage comes straight off the clock.

Their route runs through England’s tournament

For England supporters, the itinerary reads like a familiar checklist. Thomas Tuchel’s side are in Group L alongside Croatia and their other group opponents, meaning three different host cities and three separate stadiums before the knockouts even begin.

This is the reality of a 48-team World Cup spread across a continent. Two host cities can sit 1,500 miles apart. What Jenks and Scott are doing for fun, travelling England fans are doing out of necessity — the first opponent this summer is the map.

Why a story like this matters

A World Cup is never just team sheets and group tables. It is also what it does to the people who follow it: annual leave booked a year out, unsuitable vehicles, friendships tested across 10,000 miles of tarmac.

The black cab, meter and all, has become an accidental mascot. It is a reminder that football remains the excuse rather than the point — and that the best stories of any tournament rarely happen on the pitch.

What’s left before 19 July

The final takes place on 19 July at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. That is the tournament’s finish line and the road trip’s too. As the knockout rounds narrow, the miles still to cover become the pair’s real drama.

For England fans, Tuchel’s fixture list dictates the pace. Every round survived means another city, another stadium, another flight — and for Jenks and Scott, several hundred more miles on Abby the Cabby’s clock.

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