‘Here we go again’ – England boss Wiegman comments on Spain reunion in World Cup qualifying | OneFootball

England head coach Sarina Wiegman says that a reunion with Spain brought real excitement to yesterday’s FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027 qualifying draw.

The Lionesses were drawn alongside the world champions in their qualification group just three months on from England’s penalty shootout victory over Spain in the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 final. England will also face Ukraine and Iceland during their six matches in the league stage.

When speaking to the media after the qualification draw, England boss Wiegman admitted that the prospect of two more heavyweight clashes between England and Spain brought plenty of excitement to the proceedings.

“We seem to meet up all the time, either in tournaments or in draws such as the Nations League now and you can see both teams are very, very competitive and close and so here we go again,” Wiegman said.

“I think it’s also nice to play Iceland and Ukraine. We haven’t played them for a long time.

“Of course, they [Ukraine] got promoted to League A, which was very good for them and it’s a team that we don’t know very well at the moment but I find it nice to play a team that we don’t know yet, to have that challenge.

“Iceland, of course, had to play against Northern Ireland in the play-offs which was a tough team to play. I haven’t played them with England, but they have some very good players in their squad too.

“I think it’s an exciting group and when we were drawn with Spain, you could tell in the room at the draw that it gave some excitement.”

The UEFA qualification path offers an automatic route to the FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027 for just four nations, meaning that either England or Spain will be forced into the play-offs. Wiegman highlighted the importance of consistency in performance between now and next summer.

She said “It’s not easy to qualify for the World Cup, you have to top the group to qualify straight away or then it’s in the play-offs, so you have to perform every single time, every single day. You can’t afford to not be at your best in this set up.

“We never take for granted that we’ll qualify, but I think we have a very good team and we’re planning to do everything we can to be at our best in the short term to win games and hopefully after that, we’ll be getting ready for the World Cup.”

The first round of qualifying matches will take place on Tuesday 3 March 2026.