England will be bidding to end 60 years of hurt when they get their World Cup campaign underway this month.
England's opening match at the 2026 World Cup is against Croatia on Wednesday, June 17. Kick-off is at 9:00pm BST and the game will be broadcast live on ITV1 in the UK.
Full Group C Schedule:
- Wed 17 June: England vs Croatia (9:00pm BST) - ITV1
- Tue 23 June: England vs Ghana (9:00pm BST) - BBC One
- Sat 27 June: Panama vs England (10:00pm BST) - ITV1
The competition in North America will be coach Thomas Tuchel's first taste of a major international tournament, as the German looks to get the Three Lions over the hump following back-to-back European Championship final defeats, plus a World Cup semi-final defeat in 2018.
The qualification campaign was a relative breeze, with Tuchel's side winning all eight of their matches, scoring 22 times and not conceeding a single goal.
That should mean that England head across the pond confident of reaching the final stages of the competition.
It was a familiar story of heartbreak last time out, as England were sent packing by France at the quarter-final stage after Harry Kane missed a late penalty.
Group C Fixtures and how to watch
Date |
Round |
Fixture |
UK Kick-Off Time (BST) |
How to watch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Wednesday 17 June |
Group Stage |
England vs Croatia |
9:00pm |
Live on ITV1 |
Tuesday 23 June |
Group Stage |
England vs Ghana |
9:00pm |
Live on BBC One |
Saturday 27 June |
Group Stage |
Panama vs England |
10:00pm |
Live on ITV1 |
England's opening match this summer will be a rematch of the 2018 semi-final against Croatia, with the Three Lions no doubt desperate to avenge that 2-1 extra-time defeat when they meet again in Dallas.
That will be followed by a first-ever competitive match against Ghana in Boston, with the two sides only previously having met in a 2011 Wembley friendly, where an Andy Carroll goal was cancelled out by a stoppage-time goal from Asamoah Gyan.
England's Group L campaign will then conclude with another team they faced at the 2018 World Cup, when they play Ghana at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. A Harry Kane hat-trick helped the Three Lions ease to a 6-1 win when the two sides met eight years ago.
England's final World Cup 2026 Squad
- GK: Jordan Pickford (Everton)
- GK: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace)
- GK: James Trafford (Manchester City)
- DF: Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa)
- DF: Nico O'Reilly (Manchester City)
- DF: John Stones (Manchester City)
- DF: Marc Guehi (Manchester City)
- DF: Tino Livramento (Newcastle United)
- DF: Dan Burn (Newcastle United)
- DF: Reece James (Chelsea)
- DF: Djed Spence (Tottenham Hotspur)
- DF: Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen)
- MF: Declan Rice (Arsenal)
- MF: Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest)
- MF: Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)
- MF: Jordan Henderson (Brentford)
- MF: Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United)
- MF: Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa)
- MF: Eberechi Eze (Arsenal)
- FW: Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
- FW: Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
- FW: Marcus Rashford (Barcelona)
- FW: Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United)
- FW: Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa)
- FW: Noni Madueke (Arsenal)
- FW: Ivan Toney (Al-Ahli)
Tuchel had his fair share of tough decisions to make in order to name his final squad.
Harry Kane will have been the first name on the list following the England skipper's most prolific campaign of his career, while the Bayern Munich man will be joined by tournament veterans Jordan Pickford and John Stones, who are both heading to their fifth major competition.
Jordan Henderson is back in the international picture and this will be his seventh major tournament with the Three Lions, but perhaps the more notable decisions are the players Tuchel has left at home.
Cole Palmer and Phil Foden are the victims of Tuchel's plethora of options in the No.10 position, with in-form Morgan Gibbs-White also failing to make the cut,
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luke Shaw and Lewis Hall miss out at full-back, while Harry Maguire has been left at home, too, at centre-back, along with Adam Wharton, Jarrod Bowen, Conor Gallagher, Levi Colwill and Trevoh Chalobah.
Ivan Toney is the surprise pick among the forwards, while the likes Dan Burn, Noni Madueke, Jarrel Quansah and Tino Livramento, who all head to their first international tournaments.
Group L Standings
Route to the final
What does England's route to the final look like?
Arguably the best four teams in the competition – England, France, Spain and Argentina – have been drawn apart from one another, meaning that each of them has a clear route to the final should they each win their respective groups.
As top seeds in Group L, England face a third-placed team in the Round of 32 if they win their group: as will the Group A winners, with England playing the winner. From there, Brazil or Norway are likely quarter-final opponents before Argentina or Portugal in the semi, and one of France, Spain or even Germany in the final.
If England finish second, they end up on the opposite side of the draw and things become a whole lot trickier: a rematch with 2018 opponents Colombia precedes a likely last-16 showdown with Spain, before Belgium and France line the path to the final.
A third-placed finish – heaven forbid – would, weirdly, perhaps be preferable to second (though there's no guarantee of who the eight best third-placed sides would be). England would have to play Portugal, Switzerland, Argentina, then Croatia again to reach the final against France, Spain or Germany.
FourFourTwo Prediction
If England were to fail to qualify from Group L, it would be an upset of epic proportions.
While the opening match against Croatia will be a decent test, Tuchel's men will go off for that one as the bookies' favourites and a positive result there will put them in control of the group.
Carlos Queiroz was parachuted into the Ghana job in April, after the Black Stars had missed Afcon for the first time since 2004. Only Curacao, Haiti and New Zealed and have a lower FIFA ranking than Ghana, who sit in 74th-place.
Panama currently sit 34th in FIFA's rankings so may well be a tougher test than many would anticipate, but England should have far too much for them.
FourFourTwo predicts a return of at least seven points for England, who can use the group to build momentum ahead of the knockouts.
