Thomas Tuchel’s first England away game moved to entirely new country over stadium issue
ENGLAND head coach Thomas Tuchel’s first away game will be held in Barcelona rather than Andorra, UEFA has confirmed.
The new boss opened his reign with a pair of Wembley wins against Albania and Latvia as World Cup qualification got underway in March.
England return to action in June away to Andorra, where the Euro 2024 runners-up last visited in a World Cup qualifier in October 2021.
The Andorran FA has yet to announce the venue but UEFA confirmed Tuchel’s side will play the June 7 fixture in Spain rather than in the principality, as SunSport revealed last month.
The European governing body confirmed the RCDE Stadium, which is LaLiga side Espanyol‘s home ground, is to host the Group K fixture.
Andorra were hoping England would open their new stadium in the town of Encamp but it is not going to be ready.
Espanyol’s RCDE Stadium can hold 40,000 fans, which means many more England fans would be able to travel.
Especially given that England’s last trip to take on Andorra saw them play at the Estadi Nacional in the capital, Andorra la Vella – a ground which only holds 3,000.
England played Andorra in Barcelona in both 2007 and 2008, with both games at the Olympic Stadium.
It’s understood that Villa Park has been lined up for the reverse fixture against Andorra on September 6.
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England will be away from Wembley for six months as they also play a home fixture at Nottingham Forest‘s City Ground when Senegal come for a friendly on June 10.
England will return to Villa Park for the first time since 2005 – a 0-0 draw against the Netherlands.
While they haven’t staged a game at the City Ground since 1941 – a wartime friendly against neighbours Wales.
And you would have to go even further back to 1909 to trace the last competitive England game played at Forest’s ground.