Wales will be without seven players through injury for their Women’s World Cup play-off semi-final against Albania next month, with Ceri Holland the most significant absentee.
Holland has not been included in Rhian Wilkinson’s squad after being sidelined for Liverpool’s past three games. Her absence is a considerable blow for Wales, with the 28-year-old having become arguably the team’s most important player since the retirement of Jess Fishlock in 2025.
The injury list does not stop there. Olivia Clark, Hayley Ladd, Laura Hughes, Ffion Morgan, Ella Powell and Mia Ross all miss out on the Albania ties because of fitness issues. The loss of Leicester City’s Clark leaves Safia Middleton-Patel, who is on loan at Watford from Manchester United, as the only goalkeeper in the squad with any international experience.
Crystal Palace defender Ladd, who has 115 caps, Southampton midfielder Hughes and West Ham wide player Morgan could all have expected to see game-time against Albania. Ross, unattached after leaving Charlton Athletic earlier this month, and Bristol City’s Powell both got minutes in Wales’ most recent camp, when they drew in Montenegro and then beat the Czech Republic in June to seal top spot in their World Cup qualifying group.
With so many regulars missing, Wilkinson has handed first senior call-ups to two 18-year-olds: Newcastle United forward Casi Gregson and Tottenham Hotspur wide player Heidi Hills. They are among six uncapped players in the squad, alongside goalkeepers Soffia Kelly and Poppy Soper, Wolves’ Olivia Francis and 19-year-old centre-back Cadi Rodgers, who joined Plymouth Argyle this week having most recently been at Chelsea.
Gregson, from Ceredigion, is a former Gwalia United player who moved to Newcastle in February. Hills is a Tottenham academy product, previously at Reading, who has been promoted to the senior Wales squad having received her first under-19s call-up earlier this year.
The full squad is: Soffia Kelly (Aston Villa), Safia Middleton-Patel (Watford, on loan from Manchester United), Poppy Soper (Sheffield United), Hannah Cain (Everton), Mayzee Davies (Manchester City), Charlie Estcourt (Fulham), Gemma Evans (Newcastle), Olivia Francis (Wolves), Casi Gregson (Newcastle), Mared Griffiths (Manchester United), Scarlett Hill (Manchester United), Elise Hughes (Sunderland), Sophie Ingle (Bristol City), Angharad James (Seattle Reign), Lois Joel (Newcastle), Carrie Jones (IFK Norrköping), Esther Morgan (Bristol City), Mary McAteer (Ipswich, on loan from Charlton), Phoebie Poole (Watford), Tianna Teisar (Watford), Rhiannon Roberts (Sunderland), Rachel Rowe (Nottingham Forest), Lily Woodham (Liverpool), Heidi Hills (Tottenham) and Cadi Rodgers (Plymouth).
Wales travel to Albania for the first leg of the play-off semi-final on Friday, 9 October at the Loro Borici Stadium in Shkoder, before the return leg in Llanelli four days later. The winners will face either Norway or Romania in the play-off final in December.
Should Wales come through both play-off rounds, they may then have to negotiate inter-confederation play-offs early next year to seal a place at next year’s World Cup in Brazil. The lowest-ranked of the eight play-off winners in Europe goes into the inter-confederation play-offs, and should they get that far there is a decent chance that would be Wales.
Wilkinson’s side go into the tie unbeaten in their past eight internationals, a run that followed 12 games without a win. That sequence ended with a friendly success against Switzerland in December 2025.