Soccer-England's Chalobah to replace injured Livramento for World Cup


Soccer Football - International Friendly - England Training - The Gardens North County District Park, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, U.S. - June 2, 2026 England's Tino Livramento IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Jim Rassol

KANSAS CITY, Missouri, ⁠June 16 (Reuters) - Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah has been called into England's World Cup ⁠squad after a calf injury forced the withdrawal of Newcastle's Tino Livramento.

The 23-year-old ‌Livramento suffered the injury in training on Sunday and a scan and medical assessment on Monday confirmed he could not play in the tournament.

World governing body FIFA allows teams to make changes to their final 26-man ​squads up to 24 hours before their first group match ⁠in cases of significant injury.

England debut ⁠against Croatia in Group L on Wednesday.

Chalobah will travel to the team's base camp in ⁠Kansas ‌City, while the rest of the squad will head to Dallas for Wednesday's game, England's Football Association said in a statement.

Livramento's place had already been uncertain ⁠after he missed the final five weeks of the domestic ​season with a thigh ‌problem in an injury-filled campaign.

He made only 17 Premier League appearances for Newcastle, suffering ⁠two knee injuries ​that ruled him out for two months before a January hamstring injury sidelined him for 15 matches.

Livramento made his England debut under Gareth Southgate in November 2024 and has been capped five ⁠times under Thomas Tuchel, starting twice.

He came on at ​half-time in a 1-0 warm-up win over New Zealand but did not feature in the subsequent friendly against Costa Rica.

Right-back is already a concern for England, with Reece James also battling ⁠fitness issues after an injury-hit campaign. The 26-year-old missed nine games for Chelsea late in the season with a hamstring problem.

Djed Spence and Ezri Konsa are also options. Spence, who can play on either side, has made six appearances under Tuchel, while Konsa, who is ​primarily a centre-back, has 11 caps, including nine starts.

Chalobah, meanwhile, ⁠has not played for England since featuring in a friendly against Senegal in June 2025, though ​he was named on the bench for several World ‌Cup qualifiers under Tuchel.

An injured player must be ​replaced by someone from the "provisional release list" of up to 55 players that was named prior to the tournament.

(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

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