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England head coach Sarina Wiegman says that her side’s target is to secure qualification for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027 at the earliest opportunity.
The Lionesses begin their qualification campaign with fixtures against Ukraine and Iceland next month. England face Ukraine on neutral territory in Turkey before taking on Iceland at The City Ground in Nottingham.
Wiegman named her 25-player squad for the March international window earlier today. After announcing her squad, the England boss spoke clearly about her side’s primary target.
“I’m really excited to be back and I’m ready for it to start after the four friendlies which gave us a lot of information and learnings,” Wiegman said when speaking in an England press conference. “The message is that we want to qualify as soon as possible and that’s a huge challenge with the group that we have but I’m excited to see that.”
The England squad will assemble early next week and Wiegman went on to explain how the team will prepare for their qualification double-header.
She said “First of all, we will get ready for the first game. Our starting point is the Ukraine game, that’s the first game and the most important game at the moment and then we will work backwards in terms of what we need to do to get ready for that game.
“We want to improve our style of play, so there’s always some tactics and purpose in the training sessions. There also needs to be intensity but we always want some flow in our training sessions. The session itself should be loading and bringing a tactical purpose and we also have an opportunity to be ‘off feet’ for a day before getting ready for the game. That allows for free time and some extra team development.
As a result of the war in Ukraine, England will kick-off their qualifying campaign on neutral territory in Antalya, Turkey. Wiegman expressed sadness at the ongoing situation in Ukraine.
She said “First of all, it’s very sad and heartbreaking what Ukraine have experienced. We can’t play in Ukraine but the alternative is that we go to Turkey. It’s far away but the accommodation that we have, the training ground that we have, it’s a good solution.
“It’s a realisation moment. Last week, one of our staff members had a conversation with one of their staff members and they were in Kyiv in fear because there’s so much violence there. It’s heartbreaking and hopefully, football brings them together a bit.”
England’s opening FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027 qualifying fixture against Ukraine kicks-off at 5pm on Tuesday 3 March 2026.
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