Wales name Gregson and Hills in squad hit by seven injury absences

Wales head coach Rhian Wilkinson has handed first senior call-ups to teenagers Casi Gregson and Heidi Hills in a squad missing seven players through injury. BBC Sport reported on Tuesday that Ceri Holland is among those unavailable for the Women's World Cup qualifying play-off semi-final against Albania, with the Liverpool midfielder absent from her club's past three matches.

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Olivia Clark, Hayley Ladd, Laura Hughes, Ffion Morgan, Ella Powell and Mia Ross are also ruled out by fitness issues. The new selections bring in two 18-year-olds from different attacking roles: Gregson is a Newcastle United forward, while Hills plays out wide for Tottenham Hotspur. Neither has previously been called into the senior squad.

The squad reported by BBC Sport also includes Sophie Ingle, Angharad James, Hannah Cain and Rachel Rowe. Soffia Kelly, Safia Middleton-Patel and Poppy Soper are named too. Wales will play the first leg in Albania on 9 October, with the return fixture in Llanelli four days later.

The Football Association of Wales confirmed after the June draw that winning qualifying Group B1 had given Wilkinson's side home advantage for the second leg. Albania were also in that group, giving Wales two recent meetings with their play-off opponents. Wales won 4-0 in Wrexham in April before recording a narrower 1-0 victory in Elbasan.

In comments published by the FAW after the draw, Wilkinson said Wales' away performances had fallen short of their standards, although she was pleased with how the team had finished the campaign. She also stressed that Albania had tested her players during their previous meetings. Wales' two group-stage victories therefore came with a warning from their coach against taking the opposition lightly.

The play-off path leads to a December meeting with either Norway or Romania for the winners of the Albania-Wales tie. As the FAW explained, success in both European rounds does not guarantee every winner an immediate place at Brazil 2027: the lowest-ranked second-round winner must also contest an inter-confederation play-off. That remains a possible additional hurdle for Wales.