Pre-Euro 2024: England to face Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iceland
England will take on Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iceland in a pair of warm-up friendlies before jetting off to Germany for Euro 2024.
The meeting with Bosnia is scheduled for June 3 at Newcastle United’s St James’ Park, four days before the Three Lions welcome Iceland to their Wembley headquarters on June 7.
Not since 2005 have England’s men’s team taken to the field for an international fixture at St James’ Park, when a team led by Sven-Goran Eriksson beat Azerbaijan 2-0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifier thanks to goals from Steven Gerrard and David Beckham.
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That triumph 19 years ago marked England’s seventh men’s fixture at Newcastle’s home ground, where they will be meeting Bosnia for the very first time in a senior international match, by which point their visitors’ playoff fate would have been sealed.
While Gareth Southgate’s men cruised to Euro 2024 at the top of qualifying Group C, Bosnia finished second from bottom in Group J but were handed a playoff lifeline thanks to their UEFA Nations League ranking.
The Dragons who are ranked 69th in the world – face Ukraine in their Path B semi-final on March 21, and victory would see them battle either Israel or Iceland on March 26 for the right to join Belgium, Slovakia and Romania in Group E.
“We’re really looking forward to taking the team back to the North East and to a city that is synonymous with football in this country,” Southgate told englandfootball.com after the announcement of England’s final two pre-Euro 2024 matches.
“We will follow that with another special occasion at Wembley allowing our fans the opportunity to give us a final send off before we head to Germany for another exciting summer. Both opponents in June are sure to provide stiff competition and play an important part in our preparation for the tournament.”
Meanwhile, Iceland were also placed in Group J of Euro 2024 qualifying, finishing one point and one place better off than Bosnia in fourth ahead of a potential reunion with the Dragons in the Path B playoff final.
England infamously lost to the Nordic nation in the last 16 of Euro 2016, which led to Roy Hodgson immediately announcing his resignation, but they did the double over their conquerors in the 2020-21 Nations League, winning 1-0 away and 4-0 at Wembley.
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The showdown with Iceland comes just nine days before England commence their bid for Euro 2024 glory against Serbia at Schalke 04’s Arena AufSchalke on June 16, after which Denmark lie in wait at Eintracht Frankfurt’s Deutsche Bank Park on June 20.
Southgate’s men close out their Group C campaign against Slovenia at Koln’s RheinEnergieStadion five days later, and the Three Lions also have a pair of Wembley friendlies with Brazil and Belgium pencilled in for March 23 and 26 respectively.