Key events
GOAL! England 2-3 Germany (Stanway, 36)
England are right back in it! Russo takes charge in the middle of the park and spreads the play out wide to Beth Mead. Mead flies forward down the right and unselfishly squares the ball to Georgia Stanway in the box. The midfielder makes no mistake and slaps the ball into the top right.
GOAL! England 1-3 Germany (Stanway, 33)
The Bayern Munich midfielder Georgia Stanway steps up and hits a perfect penalty into the bottom left corner. Is this the start of a comeback?
Penalty for England
32 min: A lifeline for England. Lauren Hemp makes her way to the byline and whips a cross towards the six yard box. Her delivery is deflected however as it hits Gwinn’s hand. The referee doesn’t give a penalty at first but it’s going to be checked … penalty given!
GOAL! England 0-3 Germany (Bühl, 29)
England are being run ragged. Germany win the ball back deep in their own half and within a flash they’re on the counter attack. One, two, three passes and the ball is with Klara Bühl on the left wing. The Bayern Munich forward cuts in on her right foot and smashes the ball past Hampton at the near post. The keeper will be disappointed with that one.
24 min: Another heart in mouth moment for England. Millie Bright plays a relatively routine back pass to Hampton but the keeper slips and makes a last ditch challenge to clear the ball away.
22 min: I’m not sure if the attacking play has been great or the defending has been poor. Either way, this has been a thoroughly entertaining game.
18 min: England have another chance as the ball falls to Alessia Russo again. Beth Mead starts the attack by picking the pocket of Sarai Linder before crossing the ball in to find her Arsenal teammate. Russo gets her head on it but it’s deflected and the ball trickles past the post.
15 min: Jess Carter is being stretched on England’s left hand side. Germany repeatedly switch the ball to their right to find Gwinn. Having already scored two, she’s full of confidence and seems to have the beating of the defender.
12 min: I can barely keep up! Russo, still ruing that disallowed goal, picks up the ball on the right wing. She drives into the box and smashes the ball onto the post.
GOAL! England 0-2 Germany (Gwinn, 11)
What a frantic game! Almost immediately after England have a goal disallowed, Germany go down the other end. The goalscorer Guilia Gwinn finds herself in space on the edge of the box and she dribbles at Jess Carter before drilling the ball past Hannah Hampton.
9 min: Is that an equaliser? No. The ball is played over the top to Ella Toone who makes a great run from deep. She lays the ball off to Alessia Russo and the Arsenal forward smashes the ball into the top left corner. The offside flag is up though. Toone went a fraction too early.
GOAL! England 0-1 Germany (Gwinn, 4)
I’ve barely had a moment to catch my breath! Guilia Gwinn steps up to take the penalty and dispatches the ball emphatically into the bottom left corner. England have conceded before many of the fans at Wembley have had a chance to settle into their seats.
2 min: Penalty for Germany! Leah Williamson gives the ball away sloppily and in a blink Millie Bright fouls Linda Dallmann to give away a penalty.
Kick-off: England 0-0 Germany
Here we go. Germany get the ball rolling, kicking from left to right.
The players are making their way onto the field. England are led out by Steph Houghton whose incredible career for the Lionesses is being commemorated today.
Hannah Hampton continues to keep Mary Earps out of the starting line up. Here’s what Sarina Wiegman had to say about her decision.
ITV have agreed a new four-year record deal with The FA as they will continue to be the home of the Lionesses from 2025-2029.
The deal will see the broadcaster show all of the England senior women’s teams qualifying fixtures for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 and UEFA Women’s EURO 2029, as well as the team’s UEFA Women’s Nations League campaigns and all international friendlies.
All games will continue to be free-to-air, with a commitment for more than half of the matches each season shown on ITV1 with the remainder available on ITV4 and ITVX.
The existing four-year deal [2021-2025] draws to a close at the end of the 2024-25 season.
ITV also recently signed a deal for live coverage of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 alongside the BBC, with every match broadcast in the UK on either ITV or the BBC, except for the final, which will be shown by both broadcasters.
Speaking about England’s progress after EURO 2022, Sarina Wiegman said: “We always want to [progress] faster but I think the game has increased, the level of the leagues in international football has increased and developed.”
The teams
England: Hampton, Bronze, Carter, Walsh, Bright, Williamson, Mead, Stanway, Russo, Toone, Hemp
Subs: Le Tissier, Earps, Park, Morgan, Greenwood, Beever-Jones, Clinton, Kelly, Naz, Moorhouse, Parker
Germany: Berger, Linder, Minge, Nüsken, Gwinn, Dallmann, Bühl, Senß, Brand, Doorsoun, Hoffmann
Subs: Anyomi, Cerci, Däbritz, Endemann, Gräwe, Johannes, Kleinherne, Lohmann, Rauch, Winkler, Wolter
Tom Garry
A crowd of about 50,000-55,000 is expected, down significantly on the 87,192 at 2022’s final. But Wiegman and Williamson played down any concerns of a drop-off in support. “I don’t see it as a real negative,” Wiegman said. “It’s really positive that over the next two windows we play at Wembley twice, with over 100,000 fans coming to the stadium. Yes, of course, Wembley can have more people there. But we’re thinking big.”
Not sure of what to expect from the match tonight. Don’t worry, Tom Garry’s got you covered. Read his article below:
Preamble
Hello and welcome to this women’s international friendly live blog. England play Germany at Wembley in a repeat of the EURO 2022 final.
In the 818 days since the Lionesses won the Euros, Sarina Wiegman’s side reached a World Cup final, missed out on Olympic qualification by way of Team GB and initially struggled in their EURO 2025 Qualifiers.
Meanwhile, Germany crashed out of the 2023 World Cup during the group stages, appointed a new manager in Christian Wück and topped their group on the road to EURO 2025.
This friendly will be a chance for both teams to see where they’re at as they prepare for next summer. Email me to have your say. Kick off is at 7:30pm.
