UEFA Rules Force Andorra-England WC Match To Barcelona

Three Lions face minnows in third World Cup qualifier, but in Spain

England are set to face Andorra in their third World Cup 2026 qualifier this evening.

The Three Lions, now under the command of former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain manager Thomas Tuchel, will take on the minnows away from their home ground.

The Andorran Football Federation had built a new stadium in the Encamp region of the country, but UEFA ruled that the arena did not meet the deadline to play host to last year’s defeated finalists.

The stadium – known as the Estadi Nacional – is located in Andorra la Vella, the capital city, and had just hosted the Games of the Small States of Europe, a biennial multi-sport event.

It means that tonight’s game will be played in Barcelona – not at the Nou Camp or the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium – but at the RCDE Stadium, which is Espanyol’s home.

The RCDE Stadium holds 40,000, which is over tenfold what the Andorran national stadium can take at 3,306.Incidentally, the ground will host two England sides within the space of a week, with Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses having played Spain there last Tuesday.

They were beaten 2-1 thanks to Claudia Pina’s brace as they missed out on the Nations League finals.

England have beaten Andorra on every occasion they have played them, not conceding a single goal since their first meeting back in September 2006, where they won 5-0.

5-0 was also the most recent scoreline between these two, when the Three Lions, then under Gareth Southgate’s reign, travelled to Andorra in 2021 for the previous edition of World Cup qualifying.

A heavily-rotated team racked up a big victory on the road, with Ben Chilwell, Bukayo Saka, Tammy Abraham, James Ward-Prowse, and Jack Grealish all on the scoresheet.

Standard.co.uk