England take 3-1 first-leg lead over Greece in World Cup qualifying playoff in Greece
England beat Greece 3-1 in the first leg of their Women’s World Cup qualifying playoff in Greece on October 9, 2026, with Georgia Stanway, Maya Le Tissier and Alessia Russo on target and Ioanna Papatheodorou scoring for the hosts.
Facing a Greek side ranked 59th in the world who have never qualified for a major tournament, England began the tie as overwhelming favourites but produced a first half that Sarina Wiegman would have found underwhelming. The Hellenic Football Federation had made the tickets free for this fixture but only a few thousand attended, and around 500 travelling England fans supplied most of the noise in an otherwise quiet, echoey ground; it was frequently possible to hear players issuing instructions from high up in the stands behind the athletics track that surrounds the pitch.
England dominated possession but struggled to break down Greece’s deep defensive shape, playing with a back three when in possession—pushing Le Tissier very high up the pitch as a right wing-back—and switching to a back four out of possession. The first half offered few clear-cut moments: Lauren James’ delicious 25-yard chip was ruled out for offside after a VAR check, Ioanna Papatheodorou struck the woodwork after beating Esme Morgan and Leah Williamson, and Laura Blindkilde Brown shot straight at the goalkeeper.
The breakthrough came when Blindkilde Brown played a quick ball to Alessia Russo; Russo’s touch laid the pass off for Georgia Stanway, whose neat finish slotted low into the net. Beth Mead replaced Blindkilde Brown at half-time to make England’s shape more attack-minded; Mead later fell over in the box and Maya Le Tissier drew a save from Fafailia Petaloti before powering in a strong finish after clever work from Keira Walsh to open up space, the defender’s strike recorded as her first England goal.
Four minutes after Le Tissier’s finish, Alessia Russo tucked a low effort into the bottom corner to make it 3-0, but Greece reduced the deficit when Kallisti Brouksair fired in a low finish after a high, bouncing long ball was not initially dealt with by Esme Morgan. England continued to create chances: James curled narrowly wide and substitute Jess Park struck the bar, while Erica Meg Parkinson and Grace Fisk were handed senior international debuts late on.
England can consider themselves unfortunate to be involved in the playoffs after winning five of their six matches in their qualifying group, having been pipped to top spot by Spain because of Spain’s superior head-to-head goal difference. The runners-up at the 2023 World Cup are aiming to extend their run of reaching the past three major finals and to go one better than their defeat against Spain in Sydney three years ago.
The tie resumes with the second leg in Leicester on Tuesday; England will need to markedly improve on their cohesion and fluidity with the ball to complete the job and, if they finish the job in Leicester, would face Slovakia or Ukraine in the second round of the playoffs in the November–December international window, a tie that would also be staged over two legs and would need to be won to secure a place at next summer’s major tournament in Brazil.