Wiegman reacts to Lionesses' Women's World Cup play-off draw

Sarina Wiegman believes England are well placed to continue their journey towards the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 after the Lionesses discovered their play-off opponents on Thursday.

England will face Greece over two legs in Round 1 of the qualifying play-offs, with the winners progressing to a decisive tie against either Slovakia or Ukraine for a place at the tournament in Brazil.

While the EURO 2025 champions narrowly missed out on automatic qualification after FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 winners Spain edged ahead of England on goal difference in League A3, in the group stage, Wiegman believes her team showed significant growth throughout a challenging campaign and is confident they can now take the next step.

Reflecting on the group stage, Wiegman said: "I think we had a very good qualifying campaign overall. We won five games and lost one, and of course at the start you always aim to win every match, so that was a good outcome for us.

“Ukraine and Iceland provided different challenges, and we also had two very competitive games against Spain, winning one and losing one. In the last match, we didn’t perform at our best and Spain were the better team on the day.

“But we always knew going into the campaign that only one team would qualify automatically, and the way the draw was set up meant it could be very difficult to reach the World Cup without going through the play-offs.”

The Lionesses head coach also highlighted the resilience her players demonstrated across the campaign.

"Of course, we would have preferred to qualify automatically but I think overall we showed real progress during this campaign.

“In previous UEFA Nations League campaigns we dropped points unnecessarily, and this time we didn’t. The toughest moment was away to Iceland towards the end of the game, but we kept the score and saw it through.

“I’m happy with that resilience, and we want to keep learning from every match. That’s why I still see it as a very good campaign, we were just in a really tough group.”

Attention now turns to Greece, a side England have never faced at senior level.

“We knew what the play-offs would look like and, while we’re pleased with the draw against Greece, the focus now is on making sure we’re really well prepared,” Wiegman added.

“We want to dominate games and have a lot of the ball, and that’s something we will prepare for carefully. There’s still time, with players on holiday and then returning to their clubs, but we’re looking forward to coming together again, getting ready and performing with England.”

With a place at the World Cup at stake, Wiegman remains clear about England’s objective.

“We want to qualify and be successful at the World Cup. That’s not about being arrogant, it’s about recognising the quality we have within the squad. We believe we have what it takes, and that’s what we’re working towards.”

For the full draw, and to see how the play-off format works, click here.