MARCH 15-APRIL 12
Games and dates to pencil in for the month ahead
Global friendlies
The FIFA Series, the latest initiative from football’s global chiefs, will see countries from all across the world meet each other in friendlies this March (more on page 12). Among the fixtures kick-starting the series will be Algeria v Bolivia, South Africa v Andorra, Equatorial Guinea v Cambodia and Bulgaria v Tanzania.
There are also plenty of interconfederational friendlies that have been organised independently of the FIFA Series, including England v Brazil at Wembley, Netherlands v Scotland, Spain v Colombia and France v Chile.
5 unmissable matches
•Benfica Women v Lyon Women, March19
Benfica’s impressive showing against Barcelona, when they were only denied a 4-3 win by a Lucy Bronze stoppagetime equaliser, suggests they could give the eight-time champions a headache.
• Wales v Finland, March 21
Nothing in football creates tension, agony and ecstasy quite like play-offs. The Cardiff City Stadium is sure to be bouncing as Wales attempt to qualify for their third consecutive European Championship in this semi-final.
• Manchester City v Arsenal, March 31 Are Arsenal any closer to Premier League glory than their last visit to the Etihad, when they were ruthlessly swept aside 4-1 by a Manchester City side destined for the title?
World Cup qualifying
While most of the world’s international teams have their attention elsewhere in March, the road to the 2026 World Cup continues in Asia and CONCACAF. In the former, the second round of qualifying (nine four-team groups where the top two advance to the next phase) has already begun largely as expected, with all the usual suspects off to solid starts. Asian Cup finalists Jordan only collected one point from their first two games and will need to revive their campaign with a double header against Pakistan.
Meanwhile, with the Nations League finals topping the CONCACAF billing, only minnows are involved in the region’s World Cup qualifiers at this stage. Anguilla will face Turks & Caicos Islands and the US Virgin Islands meet the British Virgin Islands, with the two winners progressing to the group stage, which kicks off in June.
UEFA knockout rounds
The final draw for this season’s Champions League, Europa League and Conference League takes place on March 15, with the quarter-final first legs all set to kick off in the week of April 8 and the return legs a week later. The semi-finals will also be drawn, mea
