Euro 2017: England boss Mark Sampson will name his squad three months in advance

England Women will name their 23-strong squad for Euro 2017 more than three months before the tournament begins in July, says head coach Mark Sampson.

The 3 April announcement will precede the Women's Super League Spring Series.

Ex-England boss Roy Hodgson named his men's squad less than four weeks before Euro 2016 but Sampson feels doing so early will "bring huge benefits".

"We've worked with our player pool for three years now and are clear on the right players we want," he said.

"This gives the squad and staff the chance to be focused solely on the Euros and takes away any of the uncertainty that players might have in the run-up.

"As a coaching staff it also allows us to focus on working with the 23 players as early as possible and develop our gameplans.

"At the World Cup, we prided ourselves on being one of the most united and together teams and we put a big part of our success down to that, so we'll be able to build on this even further over the next three months."

Some of England's players are currently representing their clubs in the FA Cup, with the one-off Spring Series kicking-off on 22 April and acting as a transitional tournament with the traditional WSL season being moved to a September start.

Sampson will name his squad before friendly matches against Italy on 7 April and Austria three days later, as England prepare for Euro 2017 in the Netherlands, which begins on 16 July.

"Mark's decision to name the squad early will give us the chance to prepare properly and focus on doing as well as possible come July," said Football Association technical director Dan Ashworth.

England begin their Euro 2017 campaign against Scotland in Utrecht on 19 July before facing Spain in Breda on 23 July and Portugal in Tilburg on 27 July.

The Lionesses - who finished third at the 2015 World Cup - were unbeaten in eight qualifying games but have won just one of five outings, including defeats by France and Germany at the SheBelieves Cup.