James and Agyemang make England's Euro 2025 squad while Parris and Kearns miss out
Chelsea forward named in Wiegman's 23-player roster despite missing end of 2024-25 season with injury
From St George’s Park
Sarina Wiegman has named her squad for Euro 2025, with Lauren James making the final 23-player list despite missing the end of the 2024-25 season with a hamstring injury.
Nikita Parris and Missy-Bo Kearns, who were included in England’s 27-player squad that took part in recent Uefa Nations League games against Portugal and Spain, miss out on Euros selection, though Kearns remains on the standby list.
The squad announcement comes off the back of a chaotic week for Wiegman, with high-profile withdrawals and retirements from across her established squad.
England are without Millie Bright, who captained England at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, Fran Kirby and Mary Earps, who each announced their withdrawal from England duty over the past week. Earps and Kirby retired from international football while Millie Bright opted to excuse herself from the Euros to prioritise her “health”.
The glaring issue for Wiegman is that her squad is lacking senior, tournament experience with Earps, Kirby and Bright boasting a combined 218 caps for their country.
Only seven of the eleven players that started the Euro 2022 final against Germany are still in this England squad with Leah Williamson, Lucy Bronze, Keira Walsh, Georgia Stanway, Beth Mead and Lauren Hemp all named in Wiegman’s 23.
Ellen White retired after England won the 2022 European championship, as did Jill Scott, who was used as a substitute throughout that tournament, and Demi Stokes, with Rachel Daly following them in April 2024.
At her press conference following the squad announcement on Thursday, there were plenty of questions thrown at Wiegman on the chaos that has surrounded the England camp over the past week. She defiantly batted away any assertion that the disruptions would be impacting her team, saying it was common for there to be “noise” before a major tournament.
She added: “The attention and the visibility of the women's game has increased so much, so it sounds like that's more noise, but there's more journalists here that write and show what we're doing. But we just have to deal with it and move on and focus on football”.
Wiegman’s midfield is also looking light with only five players named in that area of the pitch. Walsh and Stanway were England’s starting midfield at Euro 2022 but the latter has only just returned from a knee injury that kept her out for the second half of the 2024-25 season.
England’s head coach was bullish about the fitness of James, rejecting any notion that picking the Chelsea star was a “risk”. James injured her hamstring while on international duty with England in April, but Wiegman said she is hopeful that the 23-year-old will be available for the friendly against Jamaica on 29 June and England’s Euro 2025 opener against France on 5 July.
The full squad is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Hannah Hampton (Chelsea), Khiara Keating (Manchester City), Anna Moorhouse (Orlando Pride).
Defenders: Lucy Bronze (Chelsea), Lotte Wubben-Moy (Arsenal), Jess Carter (Gotham FC), Niamh Charles (Chelsea), Maya Le Tissier (Manchester United), Esme Morgan (Washington Spirit), Alex Greenwood (Manchester City), Leah Williamson (Arsenal).
Midfielders: Grace Clinton (Manchester United), Jess Park (Manchester City), Ella Toone (Manchester United), Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich), Keira Walsh (Chelsea).
Forwards: Lauren Hemp (Manchester City), Beth Mead (Arsenal), Lauren James (Chelsea), Chloe Kelly (Arsenal, on loan from Manchester City), Aggie Beever-Jones (Chelsea), Michelle Agyemang (Arsenal), Alessia Russo (Arsenal).
The only changes from the original 27 players that were named for the June Uefa Nations League window, outside of those that withdrew from the squad and Ella Morris, who suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury while training with England, are Nikita Parris and Missy-Bo Kearns, who was named on England’s standby list.
The full list of standby players are: Sophie Baggaley (Brighton & Hove Albion), Laura Blindkilde Brown (Manchester City), Missy-Bo Kearns (Aston Villa) and Lucy Parker (Aston Villa).
The bulk of the squad will report to St George’s Park on 16 June with the three US-based players (Moorhouse, Carter and Morgan) joining the squad on 23 June.