PARIS, France, March 8, 2026 (Net) – European champions England made it two wins from two in their World Cup 2027 qualifying campaign with a 2-0 win over Iceland at the City Ground in Notting-ham on Saturday.
After thrashing Ukraine 6-1 earlier in the week, England top group A3 ahead of world champions Spain, who were made to work hard by the Ukrainians for their 3-1 win in Antalya, Turkey.
Lucy Bronze, earning her 145th cap, powered England ahead midway through the first half after a cross from Lauren James on the left.
Goalkeeper Hannah Hampton needed to make a superb save to deny Sandra Maria Jessen, whose header was angling into the top corner, before Georgia Stanway sealed the win in the 78th minute.
“An important win. I think we played well, we know they’re very disciplined, very powerful and really dangerous on the counter,” England coach Sarina Wiegman told ITV.
“For the most part, we took that out so they didn’t become dangerous. They had that one chance where Hannah Hampton did really well.
“Overall, we showed some good football. Of course, we want to score more goals but it starts with win-ning the game.”
England head the group on goal difference ahead of Spain, who were made to wait until the 44th minute before Bayern Munich striker Edna Imadel put them ahead against Ukraine.
In the third minute of added time in the first half they added a second through London City Lionesses’ Luc¡a Corrales.
Barcelona forward Vicky Lopez added a third from the penalty spot in the second half before Olha Ovdiychuk rescued a late consolation for the Ukrainians, who are playing in Turkey because they have not been able to host games in Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2022.
England and Spain meet in a repeat of the Euro 2025 final and the 2023 World Cup final next month.
– Bosnia score 13 –
Germany top Group A4 after a 4-0 win in Norway while Slovenia kept their hopes alive with a 1-0 vic-tory at home against Austria, who have now lost their opening two matches.
Sweden were held to a 0-0 draw by Serbia in Group A1 with Italy hosting Denmark later on Saturday.
France also play later when they host Poland in Group A2 while Ireland, who came close to beating them on Tuesday, travel to the Netherlands.
In Group C1, meanwhile, Bosnia and Herzegovina hammered Liechtenstein 13-1 in Zenica.
Selver Hodzic’s side were 10-1 up at half-time.
The scoreline might have been even heavier had they capitalised on all of their chances — they had 36 shots in total, 20 of them on target. They also hit the woodwork three times.
In spite of the scoreline, it was still a long way short of the women’s international record of 21-0 which has occurred five times, most recently when Haiti saw off British Virgin Islands in 2022.
Only the winners of each of the four European ‘League A’ groups will qualify automatically for the World Cup.
The other 12 teams go into play-offs, which will also involve the four League B group winners and the six group winners and two best runners-up from League C.
