Northern Ireland to play England in Wembley World Cup qualifier

Manager of Northern Ireland Women's team Kenny Shiels

Manager of Northern Ireland Women's team Kenny Shiels Credit: Conor Ryan (ETPhotos)

Northern Ireland will travel to Wembley Stadium to play England in a FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying match on Saturday October 23.

The match will be England's first ever competitive game at the national stadium since it opened in 2007 but have previously played two friendly games there both against Germany in 2014 and 2019. 

The fixture in 2018 was played in front of a record crowd for a home fixture of 77,768 with Germany winning 2-1 thanks to a last gasp  goal from Klara Bühl. 

It has been set for a 5.15 kick off time as Northern Ireland once again meet the Lionesses after previously playing one another in February at St George's Park. 

On that occasion England ran out 6-0 winners with goals from Ella Toone, Lucy Bronze, Rachel Daly and a hat-trick from Manchester City star Ellen White. 

On the announcement Northern Ireland boss Kenny Shiels said "This is an amazing piece of news for the team and my staff and I am excited to take our country to play at the home of football,but rest assured we will go to London and be competitive.”

Irish FA chief executive Patrick Nelson added: “We all recognise Wembley as a world class venue and this is a great opportunity for Kenny’s team to continue in what we hope will be a successful World Cup qualification campaign.”

Baroness Sue Campbell, FA director of women’s football explained “Having the chance for our England team to play again at Wembley in a competitive fixture is so important. From a performance point of view, it will give us the chance to get close to a big-game occasion of the kind we hope our squad will experience at next summer’s home UEFA EURO.

“Having had such a challenging 18 months, the day will mean so much to our players and of course we hope the chance to play in front of so many fans will be something truly special. We've missed the supporters and let’s hope that things are heading in the right direction on that front.

“We want Wembley to feel like home for our England team and we want the players to be able to thrive when they run out to play. We're at the start of an exciting season and with Sarina Wiegman coming in as head coach, there is every reason for us to be upbeat for the months ahead.”



Northern Ireland kick off their FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 qualification campaign with two home games against Luxembourg on 17 September and Latvia on 21 September..

They then travel to Wembley before returning home to take on Austria on 26 October while in November North Macedonia will provide the opposition home and away. 

In 2022 they return to qualification action away to Austria on April 8 before hosting the Lionesses four days later. 

After the summers European Championships a tournament the Green and White army are making their debut in before they end the World Cup qualification period with a game away to Luxembourg on 2 September, while their final qualifier is due to be against Latvia away on 6 September. 

Tickets for the game will go on sale exclusively to England Supporters Travel Club and My England Football members from midday on Friday 30 July before general sale begins from midday on Thursday 5 August. 

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