England vs Serbia: Lineups, team news, confirmed starting teams in 2026 World Cup qualifying
Full teams as England host Serbia
England play their final home game of 2025 and their World Cup qualifying campaign when the Three Lions host Serbia on Thursday.
Thomas Tuchel’s side have won all of their first six European qualifying games without conceding, including a 5-0 win in Serbia on September 9 in their finest performance since the coach took charge on January 1.
Serbia start in third position in Group K, a point behind second-placed Albania. New boss Veljko Paunovic’s team will not be able to qualify if they lose and Albania win their simultaneous fixture in Andorra.
101GreatGoals.com has the full team news from England vs Serbia at Wembley Stadium in 2026 World Cup qualifying.
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England starting lineup vs Serbia
Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly makes his first England start, with Jude Bellingham on the bench and Morgan Rogers starts in midfield.
England are without goalkeeper Nick Pope, winger Anthony Gordon and centre-back Marc Guehi through injury, although the Crystal Palace captain is still with the squad.
Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford and Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah received late call-ups.
With one camp to go before Tuchel has to name his squad for the tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico, Tuchel said he had no intention of naming a makeshift team.
“I didn’t feel that we were experimenting in the last two camps and we will not start in this camp,” he explained.
“We take it seriously. These are World Cup qualifiers. We want to build and keep on going. Do you feel I was experimenting 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, Trevoh Chalobah, Jordan Henderson, Jude Bellingham, Dan Burn, Dean Henderson, Djed Spence, Adam Wharton, Phil Foden, Eberechi Eze, Jarrod Bowen, Jarell Quansah
Serbia starting lineup vs England
Serbia are without Al-Rayyan striker Aleksandar Mitrovic – the nation’s record scorer – through injury, with Juventus’ Dusan Vlahovic leading the line.
“I am very satisfied with the attitude the boys have and how we have implemented principles and ideas in training ahead of the game,” said Paunovic.
“We will see how satisfied we are by the performance. We are playing against a team who have a high possibility of playing in the final of the World Cup, but anything could happen.”
Serbia starting XI: Predrag Rajkovic, Strahinja Pavlovic, Nikola Milenkovic, Aleksa Terzic, Ognjen Mimovic, Ivan Ilic, Nemanja Gudelj, Sasa Lukic, Filip Kostic, Andrija Zivkovic, Dusan Vlahovic
Serbia substitutes: 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 vs Serbia: TV and online streams
England versus Serbia kicks off on Thursday at 19:45 GMT (14:45 ET / 11:45 PT) and can be watched on ITV1 and STV.
Fans can stream the action via ITV’s website and ITVX app, which is available on a vast variety of devices for viewing on the go.
Stats for England v Serbia
- England have won their last six matches against Serbia, including games against them when they were Yugoslavia (1986, 1987, 1989), Serbia and Montenegro (2003) and an independent nation (2024, 2025)
- England have won their last nine competitive matches and are looking to win 10 in a row for just the second time in their history – they won 10 consecutive European Championship qualifiers between September 2014 and October 2015
- Serbia have lost just three of their last 27 World Cup qualifying matches (W17 D7), though two have been in their last three, including a 5-0 hammering against England. Away from home, they are unbeaten in seven qualifiers (W5 D2)
England squad vs 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)
Midfielders: Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Jordan Henderson (Brentford), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Morgan Rogers (Villa), Alex Scott (Bournemouth), Adam Wharton (Palace)
Forwards: 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 World Cup qualifying fixtures
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 (19:45 GMT)
Sunday, November 16: Albania vs England (17:00)
England: World Cup 2026 qualifying path
The top team from each of the 12 European Qualifier groups proceeds automatically to the finals, which will be expanded to 48 teams.
The 12 runners-up in each group will join four Nations League teams in the play-offs, which will be drawn from pots based on teams’ records during the campaign. The games will comprise single-leg semi-finals and finals.
The draw for the World Cup finals will take place in December 2025. The tournament runs from June 11 until July 19 2026.