England will face Uruguay and Japan in friendlies at Wembley in the March international break.
Thomas Tuchel spoke of his desire to want to put his side to the test in their last home games before the 2026 World Cup.
The England manager said: We wanted to play two teams ranked in the top 20 in the world, but also to test ourselves against opponents from outside of Europe."
When and where will England face Uruguay and Japan?
Uruguay will come to Wembley on Friday, 27 March 2026, with kick-off set for 7:45pm.
Ranked 16th in the world, Marcelo Bielsa's side are also qualified for the World Cup and have been drawn in Group H alongside Spain, Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia.
England will then host Japan on Tuesday, 31 March 2026, with that game also held at Wembley at 7:45pm.
Japan are ranked 18th in the world and have also made it to next summer's tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States. They have been drawn in Group F with the Netherlands, Tunisia, and the as-yet-undetermined UEFA play-off path B winner.
Why are England playing friendlies against Uruguay and Japan?
These two games against a pair of sides ranked in the top 20 in the FIFA World Rankings will be Thomas Tuchel's last chance to experiment with his side before he naming his squad for the 2026 World Cup.
These friendlies are along similar lines to what England have done in the March international break prior to their past few tournaments.
Last year they played Brazil and Belgium at Wembley in March; in 2022 they took on Switzerland and the Ivory Coast; ahead of the 2018 World Cup they faced the Netherlands and Italy; and in the months before Euro 2016 they faced Germany and the Netherlands.
Except for 2022 (when there was no opportunity to do so due to it being a winter tournament), England have generally gone on to play slightly easier friendlies with an extended squad in May-June in the weeks before the beginning of the summer tournament, before then trimming the side down to its final form.
England are likely to play two friendlies in the United States in May-June this year before getting down to business with their opening group stage game against Croatia on Wednesday, June 17.
How to watch England vs Uruguay and England vs Japan
Until 2028, ITV have the exclusive free-to-air rights to broadcast's England men's senior matches outside major tournaments, which includes friendlies.
That means we can likely expect both games to be broadcast on ITV1. Details will be announced in due course.
Tickets for both games will be available via the Wembley Stadium web page.
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