New Zealand withdraw from England friendly at Wembley due to Covid-19-related complications

ByEurosport

Updated 14/10/2020 at 08:52 GMT

England were due to continue their preparations for Euro 2020 against New Zealand on November 12, but the Oceania nation have pulled out. The Football Association say they will confirm a replacement team shortly.

New Zealand have withdrawn from an international friendly with England at Wembley scheduled for mid-November due to Covid-19-related complications.

The New Zealand football association says they will not play the friendly scheduled for November 12 "due to further travel and player availability complications caused by Covid-19."

NZF CEO Andrew Pragnell said: "The shifting nature of travel restrictions and commercial flight availability under Covid means that we do not have certainty we could assemble a squad at Wembley on this day and defaulting on this fixture at the last minute is not an option."

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Pragnell said New Zealand would now look forward to the March 2021 international window as they begin their qualifying campaign for the FIFA World Cup in 2022.

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The official England Twitter account wrote: "We can confirm New Zealand’s withdrawal from next month’s international friendly. We will announce replacement opposition in due course."

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