England vs Albania

With a home match against Albania on Friday night, England will begin Group K and take the first step toward qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.

Last year's runners-up in the European Championship will play their debut match under new manager Thomas Tuchel at Wembley.

Following a successful conclusion to their most recent UEFA Nations League campaign, England will now begin 2025 by participating in their first World Cup qualifying match, which will take place in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

This season's Nations League saw England return to Europe's top division, but Sylvinho's team lost their last match against Ukraine in November, dropping them into League C.

Matches will be played across five international windows leading up to November, with only the winners of each of the 12 groups earning direct qualification for the finals. Teams finishing second will have to compete in the playoffs.

This month, England will look to take control of Group K as they begin their campaign under new manager Thomas Tuchel. As one of the frontrunners for global success, they will play their first two fixtures: facing Albania at home on Friday before hosting Latvia in London three days later.

With Serbia and Andorra also in the group, the Three Lions are widely expected to top the table, thanks to their impressive squad depth and strong track record in World Cup qualification.

England remains unbeaten in their last 31 World Cup qualifiers, winning 23 of those matches— the longest active streak among European teams. The only time they have ever lost their opening qualifier was against Germany in October 2000, during the final match played at the old Wembley Stadium.

Additionally, the 1966 world champions have dominated past encounters with Albania, winning all six previous meetings. The only teams against whom they hold an even better 100% record are Luxembourg (nine wins from nine), San Marino (eight), and Malta (seven).

Albania has managed to score just once in those six matches, suffering a 5-0 defeat in their most recent clash during the 2022 World Cup qualifiers— a game in which Harry Kane netted a hat-trick.

In a very close group, Albania's narrow chances of promotion vanished on the last day of play, and they were automatically demoted after losing 2-1.

They may now, however, begin the World Cup qualifying process over in hopes of making their long-overdue debut at the global finals.

Albania may not anticipate earning points from their opening game, but Sunday's matchup with Andorra will be crucial since they have never triumphed in a competitive match against any team in the top 10 of FIFA's world rankings, losing 17 of their 19 prior efforts.