Le Tissier promoted to full England Lionesses squad

Our no.4 was one of five Reds to be selected by Sarina Wiegman a fortnight ago but, at that stage, Maya was on the standby list.

Now, following the withdrawal of Chelsea left-back Niamh Charles due to injury, Le Tissier joins her club colleagues Mary Earps, Millie Turner, Ella Toone and Grace Clinton in the group who could face France in a home fixture in Newcastle later this week.

The squad is training at St George's Park, before travelling up to Tyneside for Friday's 20:00 BST kick-off at St James' Park. Match tickets are still available here.

Le Tissier's England promotion comes at the end of a month in which she was named the joint winner of United's Players' Player of the Year award, alongside Toone, and helped the club to lift our first major piece of women's silverware - the Adobe Women's FA Cup.

Maya played the full 90 minutes at Wembley, as Tottenham Hotspur were kept at bay in a resounding 4-0 victory for Marc Skinner's Reds.

Even if the defender does not feature in Friday's game, a second opportunity to add to her Lionesses caps will swiftly follow.

France will host England in the return match next Tuesday, 4 June, at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Etienne. Kick-off is again scheduled for 20:00 BST.

Later this summer, Wiegman's squad will continue their Euro 2025 qualifying campaign by taking on the Republic of Ireland at Norwich City's Carrow Road ground on 12 July, followed by an away trip to Sweden on 16 July.

The Lionesses are currently second in Group A3, two points behind the leaders France after two games played. The overall objective, of course, is to retain the European Championship won so brilliantly in July 2022 by Earps, Toone and co.