'Underdogs' Wales happy to be written off at Euro 2025

BBC News

19 hours ago

Wales' players say they are happy to be written off at Euro 2025 as they bid to cause an upset in Switzerland.Having been drawn against defending champions England and formidable opponents in France and the Netherlands, Opta give Wales just a 9% chance of getting out of their group, a 2% chance of reaching the semi-final, a 1% chance of reaching the final.Wales are the lowest ranked side at Euro 2025, their first major tournament, and have never beaten a side ranked in the world's top ten.Opta suggest Wales have a 71% chance of finishing bottom of their qualifying group, but Wales' players say they are comfortable with being dismissed as having no hope."You want to come to a major tournament, and you want to play against the best teams," defender Gemma Evans told BBC Sport Wales."We are fine with the group. We're fine with outside noise, or people who don't have any faith in us or are underestimating us."We know the talent we've got in the group. We know what we've got to do. We are happy with the position we're in, and we know what we will do."
Wales kick-off their tournament on Saturday, 5 July against the Netherlands and midfielder Rachel Rowe says the players are ready to show they belong on the biggest stage."The pressure comes from within our group and what our expectations are of ourselves," Rowe explained."I think we're fully focused on doing the nation proud and doing ourselves proud first and foremost."We want to put in performances so that we can step off the pitch and say we gave everything. On our best day, as long as we perform, we can put in a performance and get results."
Striker Elise Hughes says "it is a Wales thing," to embrace the tag of underdogs."I think when you qualify for major tournament there's only 16 teams here, and that's 16 of the best in Europe," she said."Any group that you go into is going to be tough. Ours is obviously particularly tough.But yeah, it's a Wales thing to do. It's a Wales thing to be an underdog. We are relishing that opportunity."We want to come here and play in the biggest games, and our group is allowing us to do that, and we'll be more than ready."