When are England Women’s fixtures in 2021? Lionesses’ match schedule

England’s women’s national team will continue preparation throughout 2021 for a huge summer next year, when they host the 2022 UEFA Women’s European Championship.

It promises to be a big year for the team, who are under new leadership following the departure of Phil Neville in January .  Former World Cup winner Hege Riise had taken interim charge of the team  for the first half of the year, but now Sarina Wiegman takes over the role, following the Netherlands’ participation at the Olympic Games.

With Wiegman having won the Euros with her home country in 2017, led them to a Women’s World Cup final two years later and been within a penalty shootout of beating the U.S. women’s national team at the Olympics, there is understandable excitement among England fans.

What games have England played?

After having no fixtures for 11 months due to the Covid-19 pandemic,   the Lionesses finally returned to action in February with a 6-0 win over Northern Ireland.

Games against Germany and Norway were due to take place in October and December respectively last year, but were both postponed. A positive Covid-19 test among England’s backroom staff caused the trip to Germany to be called off, while the Norwegian FA chose not to travel for the latter fixture.

England then faced France and Canada in the April international break, losing both games, their form then reading nine defeat in their last 14 fixtures. They bounced back with two victories in qualifying for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, beating North Macedonia and Luxembourg with heavy scorelines under new coach Wiegman.

However, there is only so much that could be learned from those games, given both teams were ranked outside of the top 100 in the world.

What games do England have to come?

Wiegman and England will continue their task of reaching the World Cup in October, when they face another pair of qualification games against Northern Ireland and Latvia. The former fixture will take place at Wembley Stadium and will be the Lionesses’ first competitive game at the iconic venue for 14 years.

However, the toughest task in their qualifying group will likely come in November, against Austria. Ranked 21st in the world, the country has a number of players that will be well-known to the England players, including Arsenal duo Manuela Zinsberger and Viktoria Schnaderbeck.

England will be huge favourites to top the group, with the main fascination for these games to be about which players Wiegman takes a liking to and how she sets up the team to play in this new era for the Lionesses.

The style of the new coach and application of her team will be more thoroughly tested in 2022, starting with Spain and Germany, plus another top-ranked nation, coming to England for a new invitational tournament in February.

When are the England Women’s fixtures in 2021?

Further reading