England Women’s manager, Sarina Wiegman feels that the Lionesses’ 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Group is an “exciting” opportunity.
England have been drawn into League A3 alongside Spain who they coincidentally lost to in the final of the 2023 edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, but extracted revenge on penalties in the UEFA Women’s Euro Final this summer.
The pair had also met in the group stage of this year’s UEFA Women’s Nations League (UWNL), of which they both won on their home turf as Spain ultimately topped the group.
Wiegman though is ready for the challenge with just one automatic qualification spot as she joked that it is simply a case of “so here we go again.”
“We seem to meet up all the time, either in tournaments or in draws such as the Nations League now and you can see both teams are very, very competitive and close and so here we go again.”
England and Spain will also face Iceland and Ukraine in their group, with Iceland having beaten Northern Ireland in the play-offs to preserve their League A status, whilst Ukraine were promoted as League B4 winners in the UWNL, which set up the league placings for the Women’s World Cup Qualifiers.
Wiegman consequently is happy to see England face both Iceland and Ukraine, with the latter bringing a fresh test for the Lionesses, whilst Iceland haven’t face England since Sarina Wiegman took charge of the now two-time reigning European champions.
“I think it’s also nice to play Iceland and Ukraine. We haven’t played them for a long time.
“Of course, they [Ukraine] got promoted to League A, which was very good for them and it’s a team that we don’t know very well at the moment but I find it nice to play a team that we don’t know yet, to have that challenge.
“Iceland, of course, had to play against Northern Ireland in the play-offs which was was a tough team to play.
“I haven’t played them with England, but they have some very good players in their squad too.”
Wiegman concluded that she is excited by the group and noted how popular their clashes against Spain already are promising to be within the sport.
“I think it’s an exciting group and when we were drawn with Spain, you could tell in the room at the draw that it gave some excitement.”
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