England play their final home match of 2025 and their World Cup qualifying campaign when the Three Lions host Serbia on Thursday.
Thomas Tuchel’s side won their first six European qualifying matches without conceding a goal, including a 5-0 victory in Serbia on September 9, their best performance since the coach took charge on January 1.
Serbia starts third in Group K, one point behind second-placed Albania. New boss Veljko Paunovic’s team will be unable to qualify if they lose and Albania win their simultaneous match in Andorra.
101GreatGoals.com has all the team news from England vs Serbia at Wembley Stadium in 2026 World Cup qualifying.
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England starting XI against Serbia
Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly makes his first England start, with Jude Bellingham on the bench and Morgan Rogers starting in midfield.
England are without goalkeeper Nick Pope, winger Anthony Gordon and centre-back Marc Guehi due to injury, although the Crystal Palace captain is still with the team.
Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford and Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah received late call-ups.
With one camp remaining before Tuchel must name his squad for the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico, Tuchel said he has no plans to name a makeshift squad.
“I didn’t feel like we were experimenting the last two camps and we won’t start in this camp,” he explained.
“We are taking this seriously. These are World Cup qualifiers. We want to build and continue. Do you think I have experienced in the last matches?”
England starting XI: Jordan Pickford, Reece James, Ezri Konsa, John Stones, Nico O’Reilly, Bukayo Saka, Elliot Anderson, Morgan Rogers, Declan Rice, Marcus Rashford, Harry Kane
England substitutes: James Trafford, Trevohh Challah, Henderson, Bembingham, Dean Henderson of You Henderson, Sovere
Serbia starting XI against England
Serbia are without Al-Rayyan striker Aleksandar Mitrovic – the country’s top scorer – due to injury, while Juventus’ Dusan Vlahovic leads the way.
“I am very happy with the attitude of the boys and the way we implemented the principles and ideas in training before the match,” Paunovic said.
“We will see how satisfied we are with our performance. We are playing against a team that has a great chance of playing in the World Cup final, but anything can happen.”
Serbia starting lineup: Predrag Rajkovic, Strahinja Pavlovic, Nikola Milenkovic, Aleksa Terzic, Ognjen Mimovic, Ivan Ilic, Nemanja Gudelj, Sasa Lukic, Filip Kostic, Andrija Zivkovic, Dusan Vlahovic
Serbia replaces: Djordje Petrovic, Marko Grujic, Nemanja Radonjic, Luka Jovic, Aleksandar Katai, Veljko Ilic, Milos Veljkovic, Veljko Milosavljevic, Strahinja Erakovic, Luka Ilic, Aleksandar Stankovic, Lazar Samardzic
How to watch England v Serbia: TV and online streams
England v Serbia kicks off on Thursday at 7:45 p.m. GMT (2:45 p.m. ET / 11:45 a.m. PT) and can be watched on ITV1 and STV.
Fans can stream the action via the ITV website and the ITVX app, available on a wide variety of devices for on-the-go viewing.
Statistics for England vs Serbia
- England have won their last six matches against Serbia, including matches against them when they were in Yugoslavia (1986, 1987, 1989), Serbia and Montenegro (2003) and as an independent nation (2024, 2025).
- England have won their last nine competitive matches and are looking to win 10 in a row for only the second time in their history – they won 10 consecutive European Championship qualifying matches between September 2014 and October 2015.
- Serbia have lost just three of their last 27 World Cup qualifying matches (17 wins, 7 draws), although two have come in their last three, including a 5-0 thrashing of England. Away, they are undefeated in seven qualifying matches (5 wins, 2 draws)
The England team against Serbia
Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), James Trafford (Manchester City)
Defenders: Dan Burn (Newcastle), Trevoh Chalobah (Chelsea), Reece James (Chelsea), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Nico O’Reilly (Man City), Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen), Djed Spence (Tottenham), John Stones (Man City)
Midfield: Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Jordan Henderson (Brentford), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Morgan Rogers (Villa), Alex Scott (Bournemouth), Adam Wharton (Palais)
Advantages: Jarrod Bowen (West Ham), Eberechi Eze (Arsenal), Phil Foden (Man City), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Marcus Rashford (Barcelona, loan from Manchester United), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
England football team’s World Cup qualification schedule
Friday March 21: England 2-0 Albania
Monday March 24: England 3-0 Latvia
Saturday June 7: Andorra 0-1 England
Saturday September 6: England 2-0 Andorra
Tuesday September 9: Serbia 0-5 England
Tuesday October 14: Latvia 0-5 England
Thursday November 13: England vs Serbia (7:45 p.m. GMT)
Sunday November 16: Albania – England (5:00 p.m.)
England: qualification route for the 2026 World Cup
The best team from each of the 12 European qualifying groups automatically advances to the final, which will be expanded to 48 teams.
The 12 finalists from each group will join four Nations League teams in the play-offs, which will be drawn based on the teams’ records during the campaign. Matches will consist of single semi-finals and finals.
The draw for the World Cup final will take place in December 2025. The tournament will take place from June 11 to July 19, 2026.
