England v Brazil
Women's International
5.30pm BST, Saturday 25 October 2025
City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester

Sarina Wiegman and Alex Greenwood faced the press before the Lionesses kick off their Homecoming Tour against Brazil.

Here is what they had to say.

Wiegman on team news:

Hannah Hampton is not available for tomorrow. She has a small elbow injury. She’ll be assessed and see how that goes on Tuesday. Sophie Baggaley came in. Lotte [Wubben-Moy] went home. She felt unwell, so she’s recovering at home.

Lucy Bronze is available and she’s still building. I think, as always, Lucy Bronze is ready to start. Whether she’s going to start, you’ll see tomorrow.

On Bronze winning player of the year:

I think her consistency and the way she expresses herself or conducts herself on the pitch and off the pitch. She’s so tough and she has such a huge contribution. I think she impacts some of the players’ lives just by helping them, supporting them whenever they need something.

At the same time, she has great levels on the pitch because that’s why I pick her but when all these extras come with it, that really helps the team moving forward.

On the upcoming fixtures:

It’s always a test. It’s really good that we have four friendlies over this couple of months. What you also want to do is try out new things, see new players, see different combinations, so that’s a huge opportunity and I think it’s necessary too also because we have some injuries and of course, a retired player.

On the captaincy:

Keira will be the captain tomorrow. Alex is also one of the captains – she’s in the captains group – but when Leah is not available, Keira is the captain.

On looking back on the EUROs:

What we do always is, of course, celebrate and review what went well, what do we have to improve, what are the trends and how are we going to move forward because time flies and we want to move forward. That’s how we approach it to the player. The player will adapt to that in her own way and we’re trying to support.

We don’t ever push away what we have achieved because that’s very special and we’ll always cherish that but we have to move forward to. We’re already moving forward because there’s a game tomorrow and we want to stay on top.

This is the occasion or the opportunity to try out things – what we did last year too when we qualified for the EUROs and we tried out things. Some things will probably go well and some will not go so well but it gives us information about players, about ourselves, about opponents. It’s good to play countries that are outside of Europe too, to give us information. That will be very helpful and valuable moving forward.

On Brazil:

They’re very physical and athletic. They have a lot of pace up front. They can play football but they also really want to play fast forward, so that will challenge us. With the South American mentality, there will be a lot of flair. We’re trying to stay out of the fight a little bit and play football but they’ll go one-on-one and they’ll want to challenge and they’ll want to get into the duels.

We're LIVE with Sarina Wiegman and Alex Greenwood as they preview tomorrow’s game against Brazil. 💪 https://t.co/XZR5SSJJii

— Lionesses (@Lionesses) October 24, 2025

Greenwood on changes to the squad and staff:

[It’s been] a little bit different. Having fresh faces is always nice – new players coming in [and] to have experience as well. In terms of the backroom staff, they’ve been great so far. The training sessions have been really fun. It’s been nice to get to know them off the pitch as well. So far, so good.

On returning to the City of Manchester Stadium:

A lot of our players have some affiliation to Manchester. It’ll be nice for not just me but a lot of our players in the team. For me personally, going back to the Etihad will be really special and a really great occasion.

On the summer:

It’s still important that we enjoy what we did in the summer. We haven’t just turned up and forgotten about it. We’ve talked about it and I think we’ll continue to do that. In the same breath, we’re all so focused on the next challenge which is tomorrow and the next three games after that.

On looking ahead to the 2027 World Cup:

It is far away. I wouldn’t say it’s at the forefront of my mind right now. There’s so much to do before then but I’d also be lying if I didn’t say it was something I thought about and wanted to do. The team is also motivated to do that but I think we take each step as it comes. I think we have some challenges before then and quite a lot of preparation time as well.

Brazil in profile

Nickname: Selecao or AS Canarinhas
Coach: Arthur Elias
Captain: Rafaelle Souza
Last encounter: England 1-1 Brazil (4-2 Pens), 6 April 2023

Match Stats

● This will be England’s first meeting with Brazil since the 2023 Finalissima, with the Lionesses winning 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Wembley.

● This will be Brazil’s fourth visit to England in all competitions with each of the previous three ending with a different result: lost 0-1 in October 2018, won 2-1 in October 2019 and drew 1-1 in April 2023.

● This will be England’s sixth game played in Manchester and first since a 1-0 win against Austria at Old Trafford in the opening game of UEFA EURO 2022. The Lionesses’ only previous game at the Etihad Stadium ended in a 3-2 win over Finland at UEFA EURO 2005.

● Like England, Brazil also won in the final of a major tournament this summer on penalties, beating Colombia in the 2025 Copa América Femenina – they have lost only two of their last 15 games in all competitions (W10 D3), one of which was their most recent vs a European nation (2-3 vs France in June).

● England have won each of their last five home games without conceding, keeping six consecutive clean sheets in total on home soil. The Lionesses have only kept seven straight clean sheets in England once before, doing so between March 2006 and March 2007 under Hope Powell.

● England’s Sarina Wiegman has drawn each of her three previous meetings with Brazil, making them the only opponent she has faced more than once as an international manager without ever winning, and just the fourth overall (also faced Nigeria, Poland and Czechia once).

● Chloe Kelly has either scored (1) or assisted (2) in each of her last three England appearances, despite not starting any of them; the last Lioness to register a goal involvement in four straight appearances was Alessia Russo in July 2022, who was also a substitute each time.

● Brazil’s Amanda Gutierres was the joint-top goalscorer at the 2025 Copa América Femenina with six goals (level with Paraguay’s Claudia Martínez) – the 24 year old has scored in each of her last five international appearances and has scored nine goals across her last ten outings.

England women squad news

Ticket Information for England women v Brazil

How to watch or stream England women v Brazil

This game will be broadcast in the UK on ITV.

Team news will appear here before kick-off, along with live, in-game commentary to follow the action

A match report will appear here shortly after full-time

The tempo of the first half quietened as the break approached with the action concluding with an off-target attempt by Patri Guijarro.

Stanway made way for Missy Bo Kearns at half-time, with the England U23 captain making her senior Lionesses debut in Barcelona.

Kearns was forced into defending early on in her England career with Salma Paralluelo and Alexia Putellas both having chances, but neither was able to put them on target.

The home side’s pressure finally told on the hour mark as Pina netted with a low strike only seconds after coming on as a substitute.

Pina saw another attempt saved, this time from a free-kick, before earning her second ten minutes after her first.