England to Travel in Business Class to Women’s World Cup 2023

England's women's football team will fly in business class when they travel to 2023's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, head coach Sarina Wiegman has confirmed.

The Rugby Football Union came under fire after the Red Roses were flying in economy class on a 28-hour trip to New Zealand for the Women's Rugby Union World Cup, in which they finished as the runners-up. The RFU defended that decision on the grounds that the women's game was loss-making.

Former England women's manager Phil Neville previously criticised the Football Association after his Lionesses side were made to travel around the USA in economy class in 2018. Even as recently as 2020, the Lionesses only had a premium economy flight to that Spring's SheBelieves Cup in the USA, with the team having originally planned to be in business class before deciding to sit together in premium economy when there were not enough seats available on the same flight in the higher-comfort category.

But the FA's stance has evidently changed, with Wiegman confirming business class will be used next summer as the team head Down Under.

"We'll fly business class, yes. That's changed. It's really good," Wiegman said, speaking after being named as the Coach of the Year at Wednesday's BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards night.

"You want to recover really quick [after flying to Australia] and you have to perform, so you're trying to travel under the most comfortable circumstances. I went to the draw [in Auckland in October] and it makes such a difference to travel business class because you can sleep, you can rest, you can just lay down."

England have selected a tournament base in Australia's Central Coast region, around an hour north of Sydney, for the tournament which begins on 20 July, hoping to reach 20 August's final. The European champions - who have never won the World Cup - have been drawn into Group D alongside Denmark, China and either Senegal, Haiti or Chile for the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The European champions' first match (against the winner of an intercontinental play-off) will be in Brisbane, before facing Denmark in Sydney and then Asian champions China in Adelaide.

"We will fly a couple of times [between matches] but our distances [are] relatively okay if you compare it with some other countries who have to fly more," Wiegman added. "We're far away from home so we're planning on going [to Australia] a little earlier to adapt to the time difference, and adapt to the climate there also.

"There's absolutely no complacency in this team. Absolutely lots of eagerness but we have to improve our game because it goes so quickly and there's so many very good countries that will be competing in the World Cup."

Wiegman became the first female coach to win SPOTY's Coach of the Year award since its inception in 1999. The former Netherlands coach is yet to lose a match in charge of the Lionesses after 15 months in the job.

December 23, 2022