Birmingham City’s preparations for the 2026/27 Championship season have begun, with Chris Davies’ side reporting for pre-season training at the club’s EPIC facility earlier this week.

The 41-year-old will face several critical decisions in the weeks leading up to their first competitive match of the season, a trip to Swansea City in the EFL Cup first round on the weekend of August 8th.

Birmingham finished 10th in their debut season back in the second tier last year, eliciting mixed reactions from both fans at St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park and those outside.

Indeed, under the ownership of Knighthead Capital Management, which is now in its third year, Blues haven’t been reluctant to spend big money to bring new players to the West Midlands, and that trend has continued into 2025/26 in both transfer windows.

As a result, there was a sense of disappointment that the team was unable to qualify for the play-offs, despite the fact that reaching 10th was their best finish in the division since 2015/16.

So far this summer, there has been little chatter about incomings, but Demarai Grey, Marvin Ducksch, and Jay Stansfield have all been linked to departures.

However, while the club has gained significant revenue from recent high-profile sponsorship deals, Birmingham is now expected to receive another six-figure windfall that could come in handy at some stage.

Paik Seung-ho helps Birmingham City net a six-figure profit owing to World Cup participation.

Indeed, Birmingham Live reports that Paik Seung-ho’s participation in the current FIFA World Cup 2026 in Canada, Mexico, and the United States will fetch Blues more than £100,000.

The Second City outfit will bank such funds as part of FIFA’s Club Benefit Programme, which pays clubs around the world $5,000 (£3,750) per day for each day one of their players competes in the World Cup after being officially released from their clubs for the required time period.

Paik participated in the World Cup with South Korea for 33 days, thus the Blues are expected to get around £135,000.

The 29-year-old appeared in both of his country’s pre-tournament friendlies against Trinidad & Tobago and El Salvador, and started all three Group A games against Czechia, Mexico, and South Africa.

However, despite finishing third, they were eliminated on goal difference since they finished as the 10th-best third-place team, two places behind Senegal in the crucial ranking.

Despite the post-World Cup vacation, Birmingham City may be without Paik Seung-ho for an extended length of time.

Such achievements came after Paik appeared in 43 of Birmingham’s 46 league games in 2025/26, scoring four goals and remaining a crucial player for Davies two years after joining from Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.

The former Barcelona academy product is now scheduled to take a vacation ahead of the 2017 Championship season, though it is unclear when fans will see the 30-time international play again.

Paik dislocated his shoulder in a 2-1 loss to Middlesbrough last November and suffered the same injury in the first half of a goalless draw with West Bromwich Albion in February, but he ignored advice to have surgery in order to help the Blues’ season and South Korea’s World Cup dream.

The tournament, which was already fraught with controversy, was exacerbated by the Koreans when the squad was embroiled in a standoff with their national press over allegations of ridicule against captain and former Tottenham Hotspur player Son Heung-min due to his prior exemption from the country’s mandatory military service programme.

But, with that behind him, Paik will seek to make a significant contribution to a season in which the Blues expect to make a far more persistent push for the top eight, thanks to the enlargement of the play-offs.