England v China PR
Women’s International
5.30pm GMT, Saturday 29 November 2025
Wembley Stadium

Sarina Wiegman and Keira Walsh addressed the media on Friday morning ahead of Saturday’s game.

Here is what they had to say.

Wiegman on the UK’s FIFA Women’s World Cup 2035 bid:

It’s really exciting because if you see what it’s going to look like, it’s going to be the biggest event worldwide ever which is really exciting. What we also experience is that the women’s game is growing and we want to keep pushing and keep going. I’m really excited about it.

On what she’s expecting from China:

We want to play countries from other continents because they challenge us in different ways. We know China is always a very disciplined team. They have a very good structure and they can play out but they can also play a little bit more direct. What we expect also is that they’re trying to challenge us in their tactics, so let’s see if they’re going to do what we expect them to do tomorrow. What I hope is that we have the ball a lot more than they will have and we can improve our own game too and also have a gameplan that fits the game tomorrow.

On opportunities for younger players:

That’s what we had last camp too. It’s also a natural thing, now it has to do with retirements and injuries, but I think it gives opportunities for players to show themselves and to see where they’re at. We have players in the squad that are already – even with the players in – competing for starting positions and competing for more minutes, so it’s really good to give that opportunity but players also get the opportunity also because they deserve it and because they’ve shown good performances.

On honouring Fran Kirby this weekend:

I’ve been a part of her journey for the last four years and I’m very grateful that I’ve been part of that but before that, she was already at the height of her levels. I’ve worked with teams that have played against her and I think she’s an incredible player. She’s so intelligent and makes the team better but I also think she’s a great person. I really loved to work with her. She wants to do it together, she’s a good teammate and there’s so much more to come. She’s not finished yet with football, so we can still enjoy watching her but I’m really looking forward to seeing her tomorrow and celebrating her international career.

Walsh on the impact hosting the World Cup could have:

If I look back to 2022, obviously it wasn’t the UK, it was England but the opportunity we had to play in front of a home crowd was incredible. I think for the younger generation in the UK to have that opportunity would be really, really special. I think to inspire even more young girls and boys to watch women’s football and get involved, it’s a great opportunity for that.

On captaining the side:

It is really special. I think obviously Leah [Williamson] is England captain and she does an incredible job at that and I think you can see in the competitions that we’ve won that she’s been monumental in those moments for us. I do try and lead in a bit of a different way. I could never step into Leah’s shoes in that sense. For me, it is really, really special and more so for my family as well. To captain your country, there’s not many better moments in football than that.

On achieving their objective to get more girls involved in football:

That was one of the things we set out in 2022, apart from obviously winning the tournament. That was a key thing for us as a team. When I think back to being in primary school and being maybe one of two girls that joined in football, just for those girls to have the opportunity is incredible. I don’t think they need to be the next Lioness or the next professional footballer but I just think for us, we wanted them to have the chance to enjoy the sport that we love and have the chance to play. That’s a really special moment for us that it’s been achieved early.

On finishing the year strongly:

It is important to put on a strong performance but I think for us as a group, it’s probably more important to try things and see how things are going to work. Playing non-European opposition is really important. We always want to win the game and we want to have a good game but I think as we mentioned, there’s squad rotation, there’s different players coming in, so we don’t want to put too much pressure on them – we just want them to go out, show what they’re good at and enjoy themselves. Hopefully we can build some good connections this week.

China in profile

 

Nickname: The Steel Roses
Coach: Ante Milicic
Captain: Wu Haiyan
Last encounter: China PR 1-6 England,1 August 2023


Match Stats

● England have won two of their five meetings with China PR across all competitions (D1 L2), most recently winning 6-1 in the group stage of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Adelaide, Australia.

● This will be only China PR’s second away game against England, after a 2-1 defeat in Manchester in an April 2015 friendly. The Lionesses led 2-0 inside ten minutes before Wang Shanshan pulled a goal back.

● Sarina Wiegman and China manager Ante Milicic have met once before, with the Dutchwoman leading her Netherlands side to a 3-0 home win against Australia in June 2019. Wiegman has seen her sides score 14 times across her last two meetings with China: 6-1 with England in August 2023 and 8-2 with Netherlands in July 2021.

● England have kept a clean sheet in seven of their last eight home games, winning six of those (D1 L1) – the Lionesses have won four home games by 3+ goals in 2025, only winning more matches on home soil by as big a margin in a calendar year in 2022, a year in which they hosted UEFA EURO 2022 (6).

● China PR have lost each of their last six games against the current top five nations in the FIFA rankings (Spain, USA, Sweden, England, Germany) by an aggregate score of 21-3, since earning a 0-0 draw with Spain at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

● England’s opponents have received a red card in back-to-back matches (Brazil and Australia last month), as often as it happened across the Lionesses’ previous 111 games in all competitions. The Lionesses themselves haven’t had a player sent off since August 2023 (Lauren James vs Nigeria at the World Cup), going 36 games without since.

● England have won eight of their 15 games in all competitions in 2025 (D3 L4), a win-rate of 53% – that is the Lionesses’ lowest in a calendar year they played at least five times in since 2008 (50% – P8 W4 D2 L2).

● Sarina Wiegman is chasing her 50th win as England manager, with this her 73rd match in charge of the Lionesses (W49 D13 L10) – it took her 67 games to claim her 50th victory in charge of the Netherlands while England’s only other manager to reach that milestone, Hope Powell, needed 103 games.

● On debut last time out against Australia, Lucia Kendall became the first England player to complete 50+ passes, take 5+ shots and create 5+ chances in a match for the Lionesses in nearly four years, since both Beth Mead and Georgia Stanway did so in England’s 20-0 win against Latvia in November 2021.

● Freya Godfrey – who could make her senior international debut – has been directly involved in four goals for London City Lionesses in the Women’s Super League this season (2 goals, 2 assists), with Chelsea’s Wieke Kaptein (5) the only player aged under 21 to have more goal involvements in the competition in 2025-26.