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Sunday, February 22, 2026

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Poppy Pattinson receives first England call  

Sarina Wiegman has named 25 players for England’s opening FIFA World Cup 2027 qualifiers in March with the Lionesses

facing Ukraine in Turkiye before welcoming Iceland to Nottingham.  

London City Lionesses defender Poppy Pattinson earns her first call-up to the seniors, while Hannah Hampton, Jess Carter,

Alex Greenwood, Leah Williamson and Lauren James are back in the fold after being absent from the last squad in November. Niamh Charles, Missy Bo Kearns, Ella Toone and Beth Mead were all unavailable for selection due to injury.

These fixtures mark the team’s first outings of a pivotal year and the beginning of the campaign to secure a place at next year’s World Cup in Brazil. England travel to Antalya to take on Ukraine at the Mardan Sports Complex on Tuesday 3 March [K/O 17.00 GMT]. It is more than 10 years since the two sides last met when goals from Eni Aluko and Casey Stoney sealed a 2-1 victory in a World Cup qualifier in Lviv in June 2014.

The Lionesses then head to the City Ground home of Nottingham Forest for the first time in 32 years as they play host to Iceland on Saturday 7 March [K/O 12.30 GMT]. Only a small number of tickets remain for the fixture, available here. The previous encounter between the two teams came in 2009 in Colchester, where Iceland claimed a 2-0 win.

Sarina Wiegman said: “It’s a new year with new objectives, as we start our qualification journey with these two very important fixtures against Ukraine and Iceland. We want to start our campaign off in the best possible way and will need to be at a top level as we face two different challenges. This is new opposition for this England team, so that’s exciting too. I am looking forward to being back with the squad and getting back to work.

“As always we’re grateful to the fans for their support. A big crowd in Nottingham in a historic stadium will be really special, but we can’t look too far ahead and our full focus first will be on our opening fixture.”

The second international window of the year follows in quick succession and the meeting with Spain taking place on Tuesday 14 April at Wembley Stadium, connected by EE. Tickets for this fixture remain on sale and are available via the following link.  It is followed by the return meeting with Iceland in Reykjavik on Saturday 18 April – a contest which will also be in celebration of the historic milestone of the Lionesses’ 500th game.