Bronze: Stanway on target for England against Iceland in World Cup qualifying; Spain beats Ukraine

European champions England made it two wins from two in the 2027 World Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-0 victory over Iceland at the City Ground in Nottingham on Saturday.

After beating Ukraine 6-1 earlier this week, England top Group A3 ahead of world champions Spain, who had the Ukrainians working hard for a 3-1 victory in Antalya, Turkey.

Lucy Bronze, earning her 145th cap, put England ahead midway through the first half after a cross from Lauren James on the left.

Goalkeeper Hannah Hampton had to make a brilliant save to deny Sandra Maria Jessen, whose header found the top corner, before Georgia Stanway sealed the victory in the 78th minute.

«An important win. I think we played well. We know they are very disciplined, very powerful and very dangerous on the counter,» said England coach Sarina Wiegman. ITV.

«For the most part we took that out so they didn’t become dangerous. They had that one chance where Hannah Hampton did really well. Overall we showed good football. Of course we want to score more goals, but it starts with winning the game,» he added.

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England lead the group on goal difference ahead of Spain, who had to wait until the 44th minute for Bayern Munich striker Edna Imadel to take the lead against Ukraine.

In the third minute of extra time in the first half it added a second through Lucia Corrales of London City Lionesses.

Barcelona forward Vicky Lopez added a third from the penalty spot in the second half before Olha Ovdiychuk saved a late consolation for the Ukrainians, who play in Turkey having been unable to host matches in Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2022.

England and Spain meet next month in a replay of the 2025 European Championship and 2023 World Cup finals qwer2.

Bosnia scores 13

Germany top Group A4 after a 4-0 win in Norway, while Slovenia kept their hopes alive with a 1-0 win at home to Austria, having now lost their first two games.

France made it two wins from two in Group A2 as Sakina Karchaoui scored twice in a 4-1 win over Poland.

Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani also scored Les Bleueswhile Poland paid for Nadia Krezyman’s red card shortly before halftime when they were 2-1 down.

France is two points ahead of the Netherlands, who defeated Ireland 2-1.

Sweden were held to a 0-0 draw by Serbia in Group A1 and are second in the standings, behind Denmark on goal difference, after their compatriots’ 1-1 draw with Italy.

In Group C1, Bosnia and Herzegovina defeated Liechtenstein in Zenica 13-1.

Despite the score, it still fell well short of the international women’s record of 21-0, which has been achieved five times, most recently when Haiti defeated the British Virgin Islands in 2022.

Only the winners of each of the four European ‘League A’ groups automatically qualify for the World Cup.

The remaining twelve teams will enter the play-offs, which will also involve the four group winners from League B, the six group winners and the two best runners-up from League C.

Published on March 8, 2026