The most anticipated international football matches of 2021
2021 promises to be an exciting year for England football fans. Here are some of the fixtures we can look forward to this year.
In 2020, the football world was affected by a global pandemic and the true fans of the game had to forget about the upcoming tournaments for the foreseeable future. Life completely stopped and spilled over into the online space, where people spent their free time watching movies, learning new languages, or even playing online games and online casinos.
At the same time, the sites of fraudsters who steal money from gullible visitors of online casinos began to develop rapidly, therefore, aggregators of sites like were created, which ensured the provision of only safe games. But 2021 has given us a pleasant surprise: football matches have returned to stadiums and television screens, and casino sites have also retained their popularity.
Return of football
Now fans can fully enjoy the upcoming football events, and there is renewed hope that supporters will be able to attend games again over the coming months.
England fans will be desperate to watch the three lions in action at this summers postponed Euro 2020 championship. The England men’s squad finished 2020 unbeaten in their 8 games and not only can we look forward to the Euro’s this summer, but we have some World Cup 2022 qualifiers as well.
Gareth Southgate’s players took part in just two international friendly matches last year – winning both – but with Euro 2020 and qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup on the horizon, there are plenty of games to look forward to.
Hot matches
England v Croatia – 13 June
In the first match of the upcoming Euro 2020 tournament, England will take on Croatia in mid-June. The two nations have met numerous times in the past and games have always been competitive. For example, the squads met in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup. England were the favourites but suffered a shock 2-1 defeat thanks to an extra-time strike from Mario Mandzukic which sent Croatia into the final. Just a few months later, the two countries met again – this time in the group stages of the Nations League – and played out a boring 0-0 draw in Rijeka. In November of 2018, England hosted Croatia at Wembley in the reverse fixture and managed to win 2-1 thanks to goals from Jesse Lingard and Harry Kane. This game at Euro 2020 is certainly going to be an interesting one so stay tuned on June 13th!
England v Scotland – 18 June
Five days after the intriguing standoff between England and Croatia, the Three Lions will face-off against old foes Scotland. The last meeting between the two sides came in June 2017 when they drew 2-2 at Hampden in a World Cup qualifier. The previous year, England ran out 3-0 victors at Wembley thanks to goals from Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana and Gary Cahill. England won the previous meeting in 2014 3-1 in Scotland to make it 5 wins in the last 8 meetings between the two sides. Southgate’s men will be confident of getting an important three points at the Euro’s on June 18th.
Czech Republic vs. England – June 22
England will face familiar opposition in their final group stage game this summer as they take on the Czech Republic. The two sides met in the World Cup qualifiers in 2019 and they’ll now battle for the right to march towards the UEFA EURO 2020 final. England won 5-0 at Wembley back in March 2019 when Raheem Sterling scored a hat-trick but lost the return fixture 2-1 at the Eden Arena in Prague so the Czech Republic won’t be taken too lightly.
The FIFA World Cup qualifiers
Hungary vs. England – September 2
A really interesting confrontation awaits on September 2, where England continue their World Cup qualification campaign against Hungary. These two nations have met 7 times in their history with England winning on six occasions so they’ll certainly be the favourites heading into this one.
England v Andorra – 5 September
In the second match of the September international break, England will entertain minnows Andorra at Wembley. England have won all six meetings between the two sides and it would be a miracle if they managed to avoid a seventh consecutive defeat at the hands of the three lions. This could be a good opportunity for Southgate to rotate his squad and see some fringe players in action.
Poland vs. England – September 8
The final match in September will see England travel to Poland. In the reverse fixture in London, Harry Maguire scored a late goal to secure a 2-1 win at Wembley recently so the Poles will fancy their chances of getting a result on home soil. Bayern Munich hitman Robert Lewandowski is the obvious dangerman and if he’s on form, Poland could register only their second ever win over England in 19 meetings.
In October, we will also see the following FIFA World Cup qualifiers:
- 9 October Andorra – England;
- October 12 Hungary – England.
And in November 2021:
- November 12 England – Albania;
- 15 November England – S Marino.
2021 promises to be an exciting year with the world winning the fight against the pandemic and England have a number of highly anticipated games to look forward to.
