‘I really believe in them’ – Wiegman reacts to decision to drop Toone and Kelly | OneFootball

England head coach Sarina Wiegman says that she still believes in Ella Toone and Chloe Kelly despite their omissions from her latest squad selection.

Wiegman named her 23-player squad for the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027 round one play-off ties against Greece earlier today. Toone and Kelly were the notable absentees.

When speaking in an England media conference, head coach Wiegman explained her decision whilst insisting that both players retain her full support.

“It has been a very hard decision for both of them,” Wiegman said. “I really believe in them, I still believe in them. We follow them really well and we expected a bit more, we know they can bring more and that was the message.

“There’s competition going on [for places], so it’s about talent, playing minutes, competition. I hope they can step up and show what they can do because I’m convinced that they can do better.

“They took the feedback good in a positive way, but at the same time, it is hard to take because it’s not a nice message.”

Commenting on the decision further, Wiegman hopes that Toone and Kelly’s omissions act as motivation to return to the squad in the next international window.

She said “That’s what I hope [it acts as motivation]. I hope they respond to it really well, that’s what I want. Where needed, we will support them and of course, they will get support at club. I hope that they come back even better than they were before.”

England go into next month’s round one play-off after narrowly missing out on automatic qualification for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027 in the group stage. Wiegman has no complaints that her side must contest further qualification matches.

She said “Of course, I was very disappointed that we didn’t qualify. We knew beforehand that this was the set-up; only the group winners would qualify automatically. I think we had a pretty good campaign with five wins and one loss. 

“That’s the fact [that only one team could qualify], so we can’t look back and control that anymore, we play Greece now. We expect ourselves to have good performances and win these games.

“I’m focusing now on the facts that we have and then hopefully, afterwards, we can focus on how much time we have to get ready for Brazil.”

England travel to the Pankritio Stadium in Heraklion, Crete to contest the first leg of their round one play-off tie against Greece on Friday 9 October 2026 before hosting the second leg at The King Power Stadium in Leicester on Tuesday 13 October 2026. The winners will advance to the second round of play-offs where they will face Slovakia or Ukraine.