Chelsea 5 - Arsenal 4 - that's the number of players named in England provisional squad for Euros
By Paul Lagan
Chelsea's WSL League and FA Cup winning quintet of Millie Bright, Jess Carter, Niamh Charles, Beth England and Fran Kirby have all been named in England's provisional squad for the upcoming Euros this summer.
Head coach Sarina Wiegman has named a 28-player squad which will be whittled down to 23 by mid-June.
The five will be joined by Arsenal’s Leah Williamson who will be skipper, Lotte Wubben-Moy, Beth Mead, and Nikita Parris.
Jordan Nobbs has been ruled out for the summer because of a knee injury.
The final selection is confirmed ahead of the Euro finals starting with England’s fixture against Austria at Old Trafford, Manchester on Wednesday, July 6.
Ms Wiegman said: “The Euros are getting closer, and this is a big step towards the tournament. We have a settled squad and I know we have players in our team that will give everything to make it a summer to remember.
“It is important that the players have the chance to get some rest now after a very busy season before we get back to our work.
“We then have a series of prep camps coming up and it is important we use this time to build an even closer connection on and off the pitch.
“We also look forward to welcoming those who have been working individually and with their clubs on their fitness in the past few weeks.
We are hoping to have them back on the pitch when the series of pre camps starts, so we can see where they are at.”
The Lionesses will report to St. George’s Park on Monday, May 30 to June 1 for an initial preparation period before picking up their work again at the national football centre from June 6 to 10.
The squad will then return to the home of England teams on June 13 ahead of the first of three warm-up fixtures on June 16 when Belgium travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Molineux Stadium.
The second warm-up fixture will follow on June 24 when the Lionesses face the Netherlands at Elland Road.
The following week will see England spend five days training in Basel including a fixture against Switzerland at the Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich.
UEFA’s deadline to submit a 23-player squad for this summer’s tournament is at 10.59pm (BST) on Sunday, June 26, after which teams are able to make unlimited replacements before their first match in the event of serious injury or illness (including Covid or close contact to a positive case.
The full squad
