The Lionesses will play their final fixture on home soil against Portugal on July 1 before they jet off to Australia for the 2023 Women's World Cup, the FA have confirmed.
Earlier reports suggested doubt over whether the fixture would go ahead amid an ongoing dispute between clubs and federations over when players will be released for international duty. In the latest update, the FA have confirmed the World Cup send-off against Portugal will take place at Stadium MK on Saturday, July 1.
The match will kick-off at the venue in Milton Keynes at 3:15pm and will be broadcast live on ITV1. The meeting against Portugal will feature Sarina Wiegman's squad announced last week.
The England boss said: “I am really pleased to have a competitive game for our last home fixture. We had two big games in April against Brazil and Australia where we learned so much. This will be another challenging match against a team that have performed well and are going to their first World Cup.
“Portugal will also want to show they can be a threat to teams in Australia, and they have very technical players with good ability. For us, it will be important to come together again as a team after the end of the club season and feel the support of our fans. We will do our best to give them a good performance. It will only be three weeks until our opening World Cup game so it will be such an important moment in our preparation.”
Tickets will go on sale from midday on Monday, June 12 and this will be the second time the Lionesses have played at Stadium MK this year as the venue was host to their Arnold Clark Cup fixture against Korea Republic in February. The 30,000 capacity venue was also one of the stadiums used at the Euros last summer, although none of England's six games were played there.
The Lionesses last played Portugal in October 2019 in the city of Setubal where Beth Mead struck the only goal of the game. England also faced them in the group stages of the Euros back in 2017, beating them 2-1 courtesy of goals from Toni Duggan and Nikita Parris.
England last faced Portugal on home soil over 20 years ago in a 2003 World Cup qualifier back in February 2002. The hosts won 3-0 in Portsmouth thanks to a Kelly Smith brace and a goal from Fara Williams on her full international debut.
Following the send-off fixture on July 1, Wiegman's side will fly out to Australia a few days later on July 5. They will then take on Canada in a behind-closed-doors friendly on the Sunshine Coast on July 14 before their opening fixture of the tournament against Haiti on July 22.
