Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish have been left out of England’s squad for their October 2025 fixtures.

Real Madrid forward Bellingham returned for the La Liga club at the end of September following shoulder surgery, while midfielders Foden and Grealish have not regained their places despite promising form for Manchester City and Everton in the Premier League.

Bukayo Saka has been recalled following the Arsenal forward’s recovery from a hamstring injury.

England host Wales in a friendly at Wembley Stadium on October 9, then visit Latvia in 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifying on October 14 (both 19:45 BST / 14:45 ET / 11:45 PT).

Full England squad for October 2025 vs Wales and Latvia

Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), James Trafford (Manchester City)

Defenders: Dan Burn (Newcastle), Marc Guehi (Palace), Reece James (Chelsea), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal), Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen), Djed Spence (Tottenham), John Stones (Man City)

Midfielders: Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest), Morgan Gibbs-White (Forest), Jordan Henderson (Brentford), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (AC Milan), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Morgan Rogers (Villa)

Forwards: Jarrod Bowen (West Ham), Eberechi Eze (Arsenal), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Marcus Rashford (Barcelona, loan from Manchester United), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Ollie Watkins (Villa)

England World Cup qualifiers: What group are they in?

England are in Group K alongside Albania, Latvia, Andorra and Serbia. Of those opponents, Serbia’s standing of 32 at the start of qualifying made them by far the highest-ranked team Thomas Tuchel’s side will face.

Serbia proved tricky opponents at Euro 2024, with only a Bellingham goal separating the teams in their opener in Germany, but a 5-0 win in Belgrade in September proved the finest result of Tuchel’s reign so far.

Including games as Yugoslavia and Serbia & Montenegro, Dragan Stojkovic’s nation have lost their last six meetings with England, although they had held an impressive record of one defeat in their last 21 World Cup qualifying matches before the group began, winning 14 and drawing six.

⏪ Back in November 2021…

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿5️⃣-0️⃣🇦🇱 pic.twitter.com/JfIJQD39r0

— England (@England) March 21, 2025

Latvia are ranked 137th and had never previously played England, while Andorra are 174th.

Albania are ranked 68th and lost 2-0 at Wembley Stadium in Tuchel’s first match in charge and England’s first qualifer on March 21.

They are one of five nations England have faced more than six times and won against every time, alongside Luxembourg (9), San Marino (8), Malta (7) and Andorra (6).

Togetherness and creating a bond 🤝 pic.twitter.com/hkQRundhgg

— England (@England) March 21, 2025

England football team World Cup qualifying fixtures

All fixtures start at 19:45 UK time (14:45 ET / 11:45 PT) unless otherwise stated.

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 vs England
Thursday, November 13: England vs Serbia
Sunday, November 16: Albania vs England (17:00)

Sound on for this one. 🤩🔊 pic.twitter.com/ozcnaDn58Q

— England (@England) March 19, 2025

England games: What happens if Three Lions top group?

The top team from each of the 12 European Qualifier groups proceeds automatically to the finals, which will be expanded to 48 teams.

Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, France and Croatia are among the other favourites to win their groups.

What happens if England finish second in World Cup qualifiers?

England will be eliminated if they finish third or below and enter the play-offs between March 26-31 2026 if they come second.

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.