FA make official St James' Park announcement as double move approved by Newcastle United

England's Lionesses will make a first-ever visit to Newcastle United's St James' Park in May as part of their defence of the European Women's Championship.

History will be made on Friday May 31 as the Lionesses host France on Tyneside. The game is part of a double-header in the North East with England men facing Bosnia & Herzegovina on Monday, June 3.

Sarina Wiegman's squad return to the scene of their UEFA Euro triumph at Wembley next month before heading north and east in qualifying for the 2025 finals. They welcome World Cup semi-finalists Sweden to the national stadium on Friday April 5 before heading to Newcastle the following month.

They also have a date at Norwich City's Carrow Road in July as part of the Women's Euro 2025 qualifying campaign. England were drawn with France and the Republic of Ireland in Group A3 with the fixture list confirmed this week.

"Wembley holds such special memories and I am delighted we can begin our EURO qualifiers in our home against Sweden," said Wiegman. "In all, it's going to be an exciting qualification campaign against three top opponents. I'm sure the fans are looking forward to the games and it's really nice that we're playing our three home games in really special venues in different parts of England.

"Wherever we play in the country we have such fantastic support and I'm sure these games in London, Newcastle and Norwich will be no different. We will need to show up and perform but there's no doubt the fans can help us."

My England Football Members will have the chance to purchase tickets from Wednesday March 27 with tickets being available for general sale on Wednesday, April 3.

The game falls three days before Gareth Southgate's England host Bosnia at St James' Park as part of their Euro 2024 preparations. It'll be the first time The Three Lions have played at St James' Park since 2005 when they beat Azerbaijan 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier.

"We're really looking forward to taking the team back to the North East and to a city that is synonymous with football in this country, " said Southgate.

"We will follow that with another special occasion at Wembley allowing our fans the opportunity to give us a final send off before we head to Germany for another exciting summer. Both opponents in June are sure to provide stiff competition and play an important in our preparation for the tournament."

Tickets for the game are on general sale now via via thefa.com/tickets.