England football manager Roy Hodgson recalled a visit to Auschwitz with some of his players during a fundraising breakfast for the Community Security Trust on Friday.
According to a blog posted on the CST website after the event; Mr Hodgson, who visited the concentration camp in Poland in 2012, said members of the England squad had been keen to learn more about the Shoah prior to the visit.
He told the 77-strong audience that the players had “kept asking questions” after hearing two survivors speak at a Holocaust education class.
Their interest surprised him, he said, given that footballers usually have short attention spans.
Mr Hodgson, who was interviewed by Sky Sports presenter Geoff Shreeves at the central London event, refused to disclose who would make England’s 23-man World Cup squad ahead of its announcement on Monday.
But he did make a point of praising Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling, who has emerged as a strong contender for selection.
Mr Hodgson insisted that despite a widespread view that England could not win the World Cup, which kicks-off in Brazil next month, the team was better than people thought.
The 66-year-old revealed that the secret of "enjoying being England manager" lay in managing expectations - avoiding raising them to a level which put unreasonable pressure on the team while not lowering them to a point where morale suffered.
A CST spokesman said: “We wish him and the England team every success at the forthcoming World Cup.”
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