On the 9th July 2024, St. George’s Park unveiled their newly named pitch 5, The Fara Williams pitch, in a tribute to her incredible England career. During the opening, the media were joined by the entirety of the current Lionesses squad to watch Williams speak about her pitch for the first time. Despite the wet weather conditions, her spirits were not dampened as she described how the pitch was ‘an honour’ and that it ‘brought a smile to her face.’ 

Lucy Bronze spoke at the pitch opening and helped everyone reflect on the impact that Fara Williams has had on women’s football.

She said, "The love of the game that she has, she pretty much coached most the players who ever played for England because she’d tell you every single tactic there was in the entire world. That’s where I’ve got it from! The want to learn and the want to give out information you probably don’t see that much with Fara [Williams] because she always hid behind the cameras she never liked to speak in front of people, and she always sells herself short. I think she was a huge inspiration to all the players that ever played with her, especially in an England shirt." 

Millie Bright had her full focus on the camp ahead. She spoke about how the preparation camp in the Netherlands and the game against the Dutch team helped prepare the Lionesses for these Euro Qualifier matches.

‘It was really good! Although it was just a friendly it was a real good opportunity to have that competitiveness and not just playing against each other’. ‘It gave different threats it posed different challenges and again it was a good opportunity for us to work together as a team, problem solve and for people to get minutes in the bank’. 

Bright once again had plenty of praise for her Chelsea teammate Aggie Beever-Jones who was the only goal scorer in the friendly against The Netherlands,

‘I’ve always said Aggie’s like a sponge in every environment she comes into. I think she’s always just trying to develop and learn. I think she’s really good at asking questions and sometimes saying when she doesn’t understand, she might not always verbalise that in front of everyone, but she would certainly come to me and ask a question. I always encourage her to do that because when you’re a youngster in this environment you need to take everyday and just always keep working to get better.’ 

This camp England face Sweden in their last qualifying match. They played Ireland on Friday (12/07) and secured a 2-1 victory so will look to be victorious over the tough Swedish opposition.