Historian Graham Phillips has claimed to have located the long-lost remains of King Alfred the Great beneath a car park in Winchester, Hampshire, the city where the Anglo-Saxon monarch died and was originally buried. Alfred, who led English forces against Viking invaders in 878 and is credited with laying the foundations of a unified English nation, has an unknown final resting place because his bones were moved several times after his death in 899. The claim has drawn attention partly because of its timing, arriving just days before England's World Cup quarter-final against Norway.

Phillips, who is from Birmingham, told the Sun he is "100 per cent confident" the car park is where the bones lay and remain, drawing comparisons with the discovery of Richard III under a Leicester car park. Previous efforts over the past century to identify Alfred's remains have proved inconclusive, including bones found at St Bartholomew's Church in Winchester that were once thought to be his but were later disproved. Phillips also suggested the find could be a "good omen" for England against Norway and star striker Erling Haaland, framing it as a possible sign the team can win the tournament.