The eyes of the women’s soccer world will be on Wembley Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 30 as the U.S. Women’s National Team takes on England in a highly-anticipated matchup at Wembley Stadium. The meeting between the top-ranked Americans and the second-ranked Lionesses kicks off at 12:20 p.m. ET / 5:20 p.m. GMT with broadcast coverage available on TNT, Telemundo, Universo, Max and Peacock.
Get set for Saturday’s showdown between the Olympic and European champions with Five Things to Know about England vs. USA.
USWNT ENDS YEAR IN EUROPE
The USWNT will close out a golden year across the Atlantic, finishing the 2024 schedule with Saturday’s match against the Lionesses followed by a Dec. 3 meeting with the Netherlands at ADO Den Haag Stadium in The Hague (2:45 p.m. ET / 8:45 p.m. CET on TNT, truTV, Universo, Max and Peacock).
The U.S. has an overall record of 17W-1L-3D on the year and heads to Wembley in the midst of a nine-game win streak and 18-game unbeaten run. Six of those wins came in France during the USA’s run to gold at the Paris Olympics and the U.S. is unbeaten in its last 12 games away from home, a streak that dates back to the January 2023 matches against the Football Ferns in New Zealand.
HOMECOMING FOR HAYES
The whirlwind year continues for U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Emma Hayes, who will coach her first match in her home country since taking the helm of the U.S. program. Hayes was announced as the 10th full-time head coach in USWNT history on November 13, 2023, but saw out the remainder of her contract with Chelsea FC before officially taking the helm. Just 84 days after leading the Blues to a fifth consecutive FA Women’s Super League title in her final match with the club, Hayes coached the USWNT to victory in the Olympic gold medal match on August 10, which was just her 10th match on the touchline. Hayes returned the U.S. to #1 in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings and on October 28, she picked up her first world honor as head coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team, winning the Ballon d’Or as the 2024 Women’s Soccer Coach of the Year.
Hayes grew up in Camden less than 10 miles away from Wembley Stadium and she is no stranger to coaching at the iconic stadium. Hayes has an overall record of 6W-1L-0 at Wembley, winning five Women’s FA Cup titles and one Women’s FA Community Shield at London’s green cathedral of soccer.
SERIES HISTORY: USA vs. ENGLAND
Saturday’s match will be the 20th meeting all-time between the USWNT and England, with USA leading the overall series 12W-5L-2D. The series between the Americans and the Lionesses, who enter the match ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings, respectively, has been tightly contested, with eight of the last nine meetings between the teams being decided by one goal or fewer. The U.S. has won five of the last eight games against England, though the Lionesses prevailed in the most recent meeting, that coming on October 7, 2022, at Wembley.
England won that meeting two years ago 2-1 in front of a crowd of 76,893 fans, the highest-attended friendly match in team history and the second-largest crowd to watch the team outside of the United States. The clash between the reigning World Cup champions and recently crowned European champions lived up to the anticipation with a back-and-forth first half that saw all three of the game’s goals scored. The Lionesses struck first in the 10th minute with a goal from Lauren Hemp before Sophia Smith equalized for the Americans in the 28th. Lindsey Horan’s defensive pressure force England into a turnover deep in their defending third and Smith pounced on the ball before unleashing a powerful shot past England goalkeeper Mary Earps. England reclaimed the lead in the 33rd minute after a VAR review awarded the Lionesses a penalty kick following a foul in the box by Hailie Mace and Georgia Stanway beat U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher from the spot. The U.S. looked to have equalized just minutes later but a goal by Trinity Rodman was controversially overturned by VAR after Smith was deemed to have been in an offside position in the buildup. England held on for the 2-1 victory snapping a 13-game winning streak for the Americans.
Prior to the 2022 matchup at Wembley, the teams had met most recently during the 2020 SheBelieves Cup – a 2-0 victory for the U.S. behind goals from Christen Press and Carli Lloyd – and before that, in a match for the ages in the semifinal of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Lyon, France. The USA took the lead in that match in the 10th minute on a header goal from Press, but England came up with the equalizer in the 19th minute off a strike from recently forward Ellen White. Alex Morgan, playing on her 30th birthday, scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the 31st minute with a header off a perfectly timed cross from Horan. With the USA leading 2-1, England was awarded a penalty in the 84th minute following a VAR review, but Naeher proved up to the task, saving the attempt by Lionesses’ captain Steph Houghton to seal the victory and send the USWNT through to the final.
Saturday’s match at Wembley Stadium will be just the fourth time the teams have played in England and the second time facing off at Wembley Stadium. The other two meetings between the teams in England came in 2011, when England defeated the USA 2-1 victory at Leyton Orient in London and in 2015 the USA won 1-0 at MK Dons in Milton Keynes.
INSIDE THE ROSTER
England head coach Sarina Wiegman, who was a finalist alongside Hayes for the 2024 Ballon d’Or for Women’s Coach of the Year, has called up a 24-player roster for the final FIFA window of the year including 12 players from the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup squad that finished runners up last summer in Australia and New Zealand. Like the U.S., the Lionesses will be without a few key attacking players with Hemp, Lauren James and Ella Toone all ruled out due to injury, but still return an experienced and talented core of players.
Defender Lucy Bronze, who played collegiately at the University of North Carolina, is the most experienced player on this England roster with 126 caps, followed by fellow defenders Alex Greenwood (95 caps) and Millie Bright (83). Bright captained England at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and had a long and successful club career playing under Hayes at Chelsea, one of many players on this England roster to have played under Hayes.
Forward and Euro 2022 Golden Boot winner Beath Mead is the top scorer on this roster with 33 golas in 61 international appearances. She’s followed by Stanway, who has 21 goals in her 73 caps, and forward Alessia Russo, who also played college soccer for the University of North Carolina and has 20 goals in 44 international appearances.
Wiegman, herself a former player for the Tar Heals, has also given two players their first international call-ups for this camp in Manchester City’s Laura Blindkilde Brown and Leicester City’s Ruby Mace, both of whom have been standouts with the England U-23s.
Three players on this roster currently play in the NWSL: Anna Moorhouse of the 2024 NWSL Champions Orlando Pride, Esme Morgan of the Washington Spirit and Jess Carter of NJ/NY Gotham FC.
ENGLAND WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM – ROSTER BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS (3): Mary Earps (Paris Saint-Germain, FRA), Hannah Hampton (Chelsea), Anna Moorhouse (Orlando Pride, USA)
DEFENDERS (9): Millie Bright (Chelsea), Lucy Bronze (Chelsea), Jess Carter (NJ/NY Gotham FC, USA), Gabby George (Manchester United), Alex Greenwood (Manchester City), Maya Le Tissier (Manchester United), Esme Morgan (Washington Spirit, USA), Millie Turner (Manchester United), Leah Williamson (Arsenal)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Laura Blindkilde Brown (Manchester City), Grace Clinton (Manchester United), Fran Kirby (Brighton & Hove Albion), Ruby Mace (Leicester City), Jess Park (Manchester City), Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich, GER), Keira Walsh (Barcelona, ESP)
FORWARDS (5): Aggie Beever-Jones (Chelsea), Chloe Kelly (Manchester City), Beth Mead (Arsenal), Jessica Naz (Tottenham Hotspur), Alessia Russo (Arsenal)
LIONESSES EYEING REPEAT AT EUROS
England won the 2022 UEFA Women’s EURO in historic fashion at Wembley Stadium on July 31, 2022, defeating Germany, 2-1, in overtime in front of a record-setting crowd of 87,192 fans. After a scoreless opening half, England struck first with a goal from Toone in the 62nd minute but a 79th minute equalizer from Germany’s Lina Magull sent the match to overtime. England’s Chloe Kelly netted the game-winning goal in the 110th minute, stabbing home a bouncing ball in the penalty area following a corner kick to lift England to its first ever trophy at a major tournament and capping off a highly entertaining and competitive tournament which saw 31 matches played in eight host cities across England.
England now looks to defend its title and join Germany as the only teams to win back-to-back Euro titles when the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 kicks off in July in Switzerland. England is one of nine countries to have already qualified for the tournament alongside hosts Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Iceland, Denmark, France, Italy and the Netherlands. The remaining seven participants will be determined in the playoffs on December 3.
The Lionesses qualified for Euro 2025 by finishing second in Group A3 of the UEFA Women’s European Qualifiers, which were played earlier this year from April through July. England opened the group with a 1-1 draw against Sweden on April 5 before topping the Republic of Ireland 2-0 on April 9 in Dublin. After falling to France 2-1 on May 31 in Newcastle, in the Lionesses flipped the script and defeated the French 2-1 just five days later in Saint-Etienne. With just the top two teams from each group qualifying directly for the final tournament, England picked up points in both July matches to punch its ticket to Switzerland, beating Ireland 2-1 in Norwich and drawing Sweden 0-0 in Gothenburg.
The final draw for Euro 2025 will take place on December 16 in Switzerland with the competition officially kicking off on July 2.
