Ella Toone called into England squad as Bronze withdraws

Ella Toone has been handed a late call-up to the England squad for this month’s Women’s World Cup play-off ties against Greece, after Lucy Bronze withdrew.

The Manchester United midfielder and Chloe Kelly had been left out of the initial squad. Manager Sarina Wiegman said they hadn’t played to their potential “in the last couple of weeks”. Toone has 69 senior England appearances since debuting in February 2021 and has scored 24 goals, winning Euro 2022 and Euro 2025 and starting in England’s 2023 World Cup final defeat by Spain. After being omitted, Toone said: “It’s been a really difficult week. It’s not the news that any footballer wants.”

Bronze has left the squad to return to her club to manage a minor injury picked up last weekend in league action against West Ham. England arrived in Crete on Wednesday night to prepare for the first leg on Friday at the Pankritio Stadium in Heraklion. The second leg is at Leicester’s King Power Stadium on Tuesday, 13 October. The winners will face either Slovakia or Ukraine on 26 November and 5 December.