England vs Germany LIVE: Lionesses team news and line-ups from Wembley friendly

Hannah Hampton starts in goal for England, while Millie Bright is Leah Williamson’s centre-half partner.

England XI: Hampton; Bronze, Bright, Williamson, Carter; Walsh, Stanway, Toone; Mead, Russo, Hemp.

Sarina Wiegman said she is sure Thomas Tuchel will give everything to bring success to England and end the men’s team’s trophy drought just as she did for the women’s side.

Tuchel was appointed England manager last week ahead of the 2026 World Cup and the German will become the third non-English coach to take charge of the men’s team.

Wiegman led the Lionesses to Euro 2022 glory at Wembley and the Dutch coach has been celebrated for helping transform the women’s game in England since her appointment in 2021.

Tuchel replaced Gareth Southgate after his eight-year spell in charge and the former Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss said he was “sorry I have a German passport” at his unveiling.

Tuchel said he was “proud” to be England manager and added he hoped to convince critics who believe an English coach should lead the national team that nationality did not matter.

England’s Euro 2022 final win against Germany was at a sold-out Wembley and there have been further record crowds for fixtures against the United States and Brazil in the Finalissa, but Friday is set to bring a decrease with 54,000 tickets sold.

Wiegman and Williamson said the attendance is still an impressive marker of how far the Lionesses have come since before the Euros and the crowd is expected to be bigger ahead of the United States match next month.

“It’s a real positive we play at Wembley twice with over 100,000 people coming to the stadium,” Wiegman said.

“Of course Wembley can have more people, so hopefully more people can come but we are thinking big and having the opportunity for people to come to the game, we are happy with the amount of people coming to the game.”

Williamson added: “If you take the perspective of playing two games at Wembley so close to each other a few years ago it wouldn’t have happened – 54,000 is still a lot more than most countries will host.

“We have a vision, we have always dreamt the biggest but it’s a step in the right direction and hopefully the way we play tomorrow will bring more people for the next games – that’s our job.”

Sarina Wiegman was asked on how far England have progressed since their Euros victory. The Lionesses reached the Women’s World Cup final the following year, depiste missing several players due to injury, but results and performances have been mixed since.

“You always want to develop faster. The game has increased, the level of the league has increased, meaning international football has too,” Wiegman said.

“There is some transition in our team, the more experienced players are trying to help, and the main thing is we know where we want to be on July 2.

“The start of that is tomorrow evening and we want to play top-level opponents to find out where we are at. It’s really important to have this game against a top-level team to try out things to get information about where we are at and our individuals moving forward.”

It was perhaps telling that Leah Williamson appeared alongside Wiegman at St George’s Park, with the captain’s place in England’s defence uncertain amid competition from Millie Bright and Alex Greenwood.

Williamson has returned from an anterior cruciate ligament injury that forced her to miss last year’s Women’s World Cup but it’s been a difficult start to the season at Arsenal, with Jonas Eidevall resigning amid a poor run of results.

“That is absolutely a headache because they are all really good and really competing for minutes,” Wiegman said when asked about the competition between Williamson, Bright and Greenwood.

“But they are absolutely the headaches I want to have, so it’s a hard decision to make.”

England meet Germany at Wembley in a repeat of the Euro 2022 final as the Lionesses will step up their preparations ahead of next summer’s European Championship defence.

As much as the Germany game on Friday night will evoke memories of England’s historic win in the Euro 2022 final, Wiegman and captain Leah Williamson underlined the importance of “moving forward” as the Lionesses build towards Euro 2025 in Switzerland.

“Of course we will always cherish that memory and it was one of the biggest moments in my career, in my life,” Wiegman said.

“We are focused on now with a different team and it’s the start of the next cycle. So many things have happened to the team since. Germany have always been a powerful team, who want to play the possession game but don’t hesitate to play the long ball either.

“They have a new coach now who might want to do different things so we’ll prepare for everything. It’s really good for us to get that experience at the highest level.”

England are without Lauren James after the Chelsea forward withdrew from the squad due to injury. Fran Kirby and Lotte Wubben-Moy are also not available for the Germany game but could return against South Africa.

Sarina Wiegman faces a number of selection dilemmas, including in goal where Hannah Hampton is competing with Mary Earps for a starting spot. There is also a decision to be made at centre-back with Leah Williamson, Millie Bright and Alex Greenwood all available.

Grace Clinton has been in good form for Manchester United this season but Ella Toone and Jess Park are also options to start alongside Keira Walsh and Georgia Stanway in midfield.

In attack, Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo are likely to start. Beth Mead and Chloe Kelly are available but Chelsea’s Aggie Beever-Jones is pushing for her first England start – though that may come against South Africa.