Soccer

Aston Villa defender Lucy Parker named in England squad

Millie Turner and Khiara Keating have missed out on the 25-strong party.

Aston Villa’s Lucy Parker has been recalled to the England squad .
Aston Villa’s Lucy Parker has been recalled to the England squad . (Mike Egerton/PA)
By PA Sport Staff

Lucy Parker has been recalled to the England squad for the first time in a year ahead of this month’s friendlies against Germany and South Africa.

As well as the uncapped Aston Villa defender, there are also returns for Lauren James and Lotte Wubben-Moy after they missed the summer’s Euro 2025 qualifiers due to injury.

There is no place in Sarina Wiegman’s 25-player squad for Millie Turner or Khiara Keating, while the sidelined Niamh Charles also drops out.

England begin their build-up to next summer’s tournament in Switzerland by playing Germany at Wembley a week on Friday and South Africa in Coventry four days later.

Wiegman said: “This is an important international window for us and I can’t wait to get back together at St George’s Park.

“The players and staff worked hard to automatically secure our place in next summer’s Euros, allowing all of our focus and attention to now go into making sure we’re ready for the tournament when it begins on July 2.

“Qualifying directly for the finals provides us with a very valuable opportunity to play four friendlies this autumn and lay the foundations for next summer. We’ve been able to carefully select our opponents and we’ve got two exciting and different challenges this window.

“To play Germany at Wembley Stadium is very special and it’s so important that we get experience of executing our style of play against top opponents.

Sarina Wiegman’s side face Germany at Wembley later this month .
Sarina Wiegman’s side face Germany at Wembley later this month . (Nigel French/PA)

“Then South Africa in Coventry, a city and a stadium we know well, will test us in different ways. They showed in the World Cup in 2023 how quickly they are progressing and the high level they are at now. We’ll need to be at our very best on both evenings.

“The fans are always so brilliant whenever we play and tickets are still available for both games, so we’d love as much support as possible and another two memorable atmospheres.”

Following these two matches, England will finish the year with friendlies against the United States at Wembley on November 30 and Switzerland in Sheffield on December 3.