When is Thomas Tuchel's first England game as World Cup 2026 qualifying draw made

New England manager Thomas Tuchel will have to wait three more months for his first game in charge of the Three Lions.

The former Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund boss was unveiled as Gareth Southgate's successor back in October. Lee Carsley stepped in on an interim basis to guide England through their Nations League campaign, but it was Tuchel who was present at the 2026 World Cup qualifying draw this week.

England were drawn in group K alongside Serbia, Albania, Latvia, Andorra. The Three Lions last faced Serbia in the group stage of Euro 2024 when they emerged as narrow 1-0 winners.

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Qualifying will take place in the March, June, September, October and November international breaks next year, although will only take up four of the five windows as there is a maximum of eight games. Some nations will start in March, others in June and the four-team groups will start in September.

Regardless, Tuchel will oversee his first England camp in March with his first ever game expected to take place on either Friday March 21 or Saturday March 22. Full focus will then be on qualifying and preparing for the 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico.

In the 2022 Qatar World Cup, England were knocked out at the quarter-final stage following a 2-1 defeat to France. Aurelien Tchouameni and Olivier Giroud were on the scoresheet for the opponents, while Harry Kane scored England's only goal of the game from the penalty spot.

England have reached the final of the last two European Championships, losing to Italy in the 2020 final and Spain in 2024 final in the summer. With the World Cup on the horizon, Tuchel has been tasked with taking the team that one step further as England hope to claim their first piece of major silverware since their 1966 World Cup win.