England women's deaf team set for World Deaf Futsal Championship

The England women’s deaf squad are in Italy this week for the 2025 World Deaf Futsal Championship, which kicks-off for the Para Lionesses on Sunday 15 June.

Head coach Steve Daley has an eleven-player group for the trip, which began on Thursday when they travelled to their base in Montesilvano.

The Para Lionesses will be looking to go one further than their previous campaign in the same tournament, when they finished third in Brazil two years ago.

“There is no greater honour that representing your country, this is even more special when it happens at a World Cup,” said Daley.

“I have the privilege of working with a special group of players and staff, which is further enhanced with all the support we have from colleagues within the para team and those at the FA.

“We as a group know the importance of wearing the Three Lions and the pride this brings to the nation and we will endeavour to compete, challenge, entertain and succeed in our quest at this major tournament.”

England kick-off with their first Group A game against Sweden on Sunday (10am BST) at the Palasport "Giovanni Paolo II" – venue in Pescara.

They then take on the host nation Italy at the same venue on Tuesday 17 June (1pm BST) before their final group stage game against Argentina on Thursday 19 June (4pm BST) at the Pala Roma in Montesilvano

After that, the top two nations from the four groups and the two best third-placed teams will progress to the quarter-finals which take place on Sunday 22 June. Beyond that, the semi-finals are scheduled for Tuesday 24 June and the final will be on Thursday 26 June.

The remaining teams who don’t progress to the knockout stages will also have further games to decide the tournament’s final placements on 22, 24 and 26 June.

Matches will be streamed live on YouTube and you can find more details on the tournament in general here.

The squad numbers for the tournament have also been confirmed and England will line-up as follows:-

The Squad

1: Natasha Hamm
2: Georgie Jones
4: Masie O’Shea
5: Louise Hogan
6: Lucindha Lawson
7: Danielle Evans
8: Faye Williams
9: Macie White
10: Lucy Scholes
11: Ellie Betteridge
12: Emma Brown