England to play Uruguay and Japan at Wembley

England will play fellow FIFA World Cup 26 finalists Uruguay and Japan in a March double-header at Wembley Stadium connected by EE.

The Three Lions will start the new year against Uruguay on Friday 27 March (7.45pm) before Japan arrive three days later, on Tuesday 31 March (7.45pm KO). The two games against teams ranked 16th and 18th respectively in the world will have extra intrigue as they will be the last before Thomas Tuchel names his final World Cup squad in May.

Ticket information for these fixtures - the only games to be played in England before the World Cup - is available via wembleystadium.com/tickets. The confirmation comes after England learned their group-stage opponents in Friday’s World Cup draw in Washington DC.

At the FIFA World Cup 26 finals, England will play Croatia, Ghana and Panama in Dallas, Boston and New York/New Jersey respectively with the schedule for the World Cup now revealed. 

Before the tournament starts, England are also expected to play two warm-up games in the USA, with details yet to be confirmed.

England head coach Tuchel said: “We are really pleased to have these two fixtures confirmed as our World Cup year takes shape. We wanted to play two teams ranked in the top 20 in the world, but also to test ourselves against opponents from outside of Europe. After Friday’s draw, the excitement for next year is really building.”

Uruguay’s last match against England on these shores was almost 20 years ago when Peter Crouch and Joe Cole scored in a 2-1 win at Anfield in March 2006. The most recent meeting was in the group stage at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil when the South American side won 2-1, with the last Wembley encounter a goalless draw at the old stadium in March 1995. Overall, England have won three and drawn three of eleven meetings between the two nations.

England have met Japan on just three occasions and only once at Wembley, a 2-1 victory in June 1995. That was followed by a 1-1 draw at the home of Manchester City in June 2004, just before that summer’s EURO. The last encounter was a 2-1 England win in Graz, Austria in May 2010 ahead of the World Cup in South Africa – a fixture that was notable for two own goals from the Asian team.