Internationals | World Cup semi and friendlies dominate March fixtures | Men's First-Team | News

24th March 2026

Without a Premier League fixture until April, Wolves’ eyes will be focused on the nine men’s first-team players heading out on international duty this week.

Seven members of Rob Edwards’ squad will be taking part in friendly matches, while Ladislav Krejci will lead Czech Republic in their World Cup play-off semi-final and Mateus Mane faces European U21 qualification action with Portugal.

As Krejci looks to help his country to this summer’s World Cup, the Wolves defender has been given a huge boost ahead of the semi-finals after being handed Czechia’s captaincy by new manager Miroslav Koubek for their clash with Republic of Ireland on Thursday (26^th March), following the decision to remove the armband from Tomas Soucek.

Krejci’s club teammate Matt Doherty has not been called up by Ireland for this week’s World Cup play-offs, despite reaching 50 international caps recently. The winner of the Czech Republic and Ireland semi-final will face either Denmark or North Macedonia to book their place in north America.

The new Czech Republic captain 🇨🇿

Congratulations, Ladislav! pic.twitter.com/yspPuNswJk
— Wolves (@Wolves) March 24, 2026

Outside of international friendlies, Mane will be hoping to make his under-21 debut with the Iberians after representing both Portugal and England at youth level previously.

Portugal are currently top of their 2027 UEFA U21s Euros qualification group thanks to four wins and draw from their opening five matches and will take on Azerbaijan and Scotland this week.

Goalkeeper Jose Sa is once again with the senior Portugal squad for a pair of friendly matches in North America, facing Mexico and the USA. Jean Ricner-Bellegarde and Haiti are also playing two games in one of this summer’s World Cup hosts, facing Tunisia and Iceland in Canada.

Hee Chan Hwang and Yerson Mosquera are also set for friendlies on neutral ground, with the forward selected for South Korea’s matches against Ivory Coast in Milton Keynes and Austria, while Mosquera and Colombia will take on Croatia and France in the USA.

Santi Bueno will be aiming to step out at Wembley this week as Uruguay begin preparation for the World Cup this summer with a friendly against England on Friday (27^th March), before taking on Algeria in Italy on Tuesday (31^st March).

Jackscon Tchatchoua is back in the Cameroon squad for their FIFA World Series games, which sees national teams from a wide range of rankings and confederations together for friendly fixtures. Cameroon face two friendlies in Australia against the host nation as well as China, who have Wolves Academy prospect Xu Bin named in their squad.

With just four months to go until the World Cup begins, David Moller Wolfe is with Norway for their final friendlies ahead of this summer’s tournament, facing Netherlands in Amsterdam on Friday and Switzerland in Oslo on Tuesday.

Wolves internationals March fixtures

Krejci (Czech Republic): FIFA World Cup play-offs