England

Jess Lee

England’s Lionesses are on their way to qualifying for next year’s UEFA European Women’s Championship, but the reigning champions have not had it easy.

The UEFA European Women’s Championship is a tournament hosted every four years between the national teams of the UEFA Confederation.

The first UEFA Women’s Championship was held in 1984. Sweden won it after a two-legged final against England that ended in penalties.

Where will EURO 2025 take place?

The 14th edition of the women’s EURO tournament will be held in Switzerland from July 2nd to July 27th, 2025. With stadiums in eight cities, over 700,000 tickets are up for grabs across 31 matches. The final will be held at St. Jakob Park in Basel, a stadium that can accommodate 37,500 people.

The Last WEUROs 

England’s Lionesses are the reigning champions, having defeated Germany 2-1 in the final at Wembley in 2022. Ella Toone scored England’s first goal in the 61st minute with a cool chip over the goalkeeper and, despite a German equaliser, Chloe Kelly secured the win, poking the ball over the line from a corner in added time.

Thankfully, both goal-scorers are back in Sarina Wiegman’s qualifying squad after successful seasons at the opposing ends of Manchester. Standout moments of their season include Toone’s thunder strike against Tottenham in the Women’s FA Cup final and Kelly’s goal, directed from a corner against Leicester in the Women’s Super League.

The Qualifiers Explained

In March of this year, the EURO qualifying groups were drawn in Nyon, Switzerland. Each of the 51 competing European countries was placed in either League A, B or C before the draw. The leagues were determined by the rank of the teams from the 23/24 season. Therefore, League A contains the ‘best’ teams, with League B and C following in descending order. All League A groups’ first and second-place teams will automatically qualify for EURO 2025. Then, third and fourth place will enter a play-off format alongside the top three teams from each League B group and the winnersof League C. Seven teams will qualify further af and runners-up ter the 28 teams play off against each other.

England was placed in the ‘A3’ group alongside France, Sweden, and the Republic of Ireland.

The Road to EUROs 2025

England’s qualifying journey kicked off at home against Sweden in April. The Lionesses picked up a singular point in a 1-1 draw, their goal courtesy of Arsenal striker Alessia Russo. She made an acrobatic diving header on the end of a Lauren James cross midway through the first half. However, the Swedes fought back in the second forty-five, taking advantage of lacklustre defending. A poorly challenged header was capitalised on and crossed to the back post, where a sleeping Lucy Bronze was beaten to the ball by Fridolina Rolfo. She clambered the ball past Mary Earps to draw the score level, ending the game at 1-1.

Next, England made the short journey to the Republic of Ireland across the Irish Sea. They added three more points to their tally with a confident 2-0 win. The visitors dominated the performance, seeing a combination of cool finishing from Lauren James and a penalty buried by Alex Greenwood.

Therefore, England’s four initial points on the board showed a promising start to their qualifying journey.

The May and June Qualifiers

Fast-forward to England’s most recent matches, they took on France twice in the same week.

The first was at home; St. James’ Park in Newcastle hosted the Lionesses with an eight o’clock kick-off. With a positive start for the home side, they took the lead in the 30th minute via a Beth Mead goal. The ball fell to Mead’s feet after a coming together on the six-yard line. She calmly took a touch into space and slotted it into the right corner of the net.

However, the French soon retaliated with a looping volley from Elisa De Almeida on the edge of the penalty area. Despite Hampton at full stretch, she could not keep the ball out as it nestled in the back of the net. In the second half, things worsened for England as a second volley struck the back of their net. Marie-Anotoinette Katoto took the ball on the spin, rifling it past the England goalkeeper to put her team into the lead. The full-time whistle signalled England’s first defeat in EURO qualifying since 2002.

England manager Sarina Wiegman said the loss was “absolutely devastating” and “unnecessary.”

“The execution didn’t go very well… this is disappointing.”

Back at Their Place

Four days later, England was determined to right their wrongs at the State Geoffrey-Guichard. Hannah Hampton slotted into the starting eleven for the injured Mary Earps, whereas the rest of the team remained unchanged. A regathered England team quickly demonstrated that they came to France with only one intention: to win. After a few relentless shots on goal, the Lionesses finally took the lead in the 21st minute. Frauen-Bundesliga winner Georgia Stanway hit a wonderful thunder strike from the edge of the box that curled beautifully into the side netting.

Fuelled by the amazing opener, England went on to score their second of the game via Alessia Russo. A defence-splitting cross was met by the head of Russo; she nodded it calmly into the back of the net to double the lead. However, the Lionesses began causing their own problems after Leah Williamson gave away a penalty in the 70th minute. Kadidiatou Diani scored for the French to decrease the goal deficit to one. A shaky end to the game kept England on their toes to see out the win. As full-time sounded, France accepted their first defeat on home soil in five years.

Wiegman praised her team’s performance: “We had to work really hard for the win… it was [much improved].”

France’s manager, Herve Renard, respected England’s resilience after his team lost to the Lionesses for the first time since 1973: “Obviously, you are going to get punished, especially against a team like England.”

With both a victory and a defeat, England sat third in their group behind Sweden in terms of goal difference.

Injuries

England added goalkeeper Mary Earps to their injury list after she came off within ten minutes against France. Despite trying to play on, she suffered a contactless hip injury and had to be replaced by Birmingham City’s Hannah Hampton. Earps was clearly emotional, close to tears, and she left St. James’ Park on crutches.

Manager Sarina Wiegman had no immediate update on the severity of the situation in the post-match press conference. Earps then withdrew from the England squad to complete her rehabilitation back at Manchester United the next day.

Wiegman remained positive, “expect[ing] her to be available for the next camp” in July.

Upcoming Fixtures

England will be back in action in July to finish their qualifying matches. On the 12th, they will play at Carrow Road against the Republic of Ireland. They will then travel to Sweden to play them in their final match on the 16th.

The Lionesses will be aiming for the second automatic qualification spot. Their priority is to get six of the six points available.

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Featured image courtesy of Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.

Sports Journalism student at Solent University in Southampton.

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