William watches as Lionesses thrash Netherlands in Euros
William was seen clapping and cheering from the stands as Lauren James scored in the first 25 minutes at Stadion Letzigrund.
A big win in the group stage! Off the mark and onto the next one. Let's go @Lionesses! #WEURO2025 ⚽️ https://t.co/MQU8GEpPxV
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) July 9, 2025
The prince stood to sing the national anthem and was seen chatting to those sitting near him.
He also spoke to Frank Paauw, the president of the Royal Netherlands Football Association.
In the second half, William watched intently, following the ball as the defending champions aimed to make up for their loss to in the first group match against France.
The future king, who is patron of the Football Association, had wished the players good luck before the tournament and helped to print names and numbers on their shirts when he presented match jerseys to the 23 squad members at St George's Park on June 30.
In a brief personal address to the players, he said: 'I just want to say the best of luck to all of you.
'I have seen a few of you and said that to your faces.
'I know there is a good mixture of those who have been and done a few tournaments before and those whose first tournament it is.'
William has been a longtime supporter of the Lionesses.
He presented the trophy to the team at Wembley Stadium when they won the last Euros in 2022, although apologised for not making it to Australia to watch them in the Women's World Cup final in 2023.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
14 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE USA captain Tyler Adams on the 'wake up call' facing World Cup organizers... and why he's backing Gold Cup absentees
USA captain Tyler Adams believes his country's summer of soccer has been a 'wake up call' ahead of the World Cup next year. Both the expanded Club World Cup and Gold Cup have been hosted in the United States this summer, and Adams believes organizers will have their hands full when 48 nations descend upon the USA, Mexico and Canada in 2026. 'I think that it's a learning experience and learning curve that they've needed to take. And I'm honestly very thankful that they're having the Club World Cup and Gold Cup there, and all these tournaments there right now, because I think it's a big wake up call for what they need to prepare for,' Adams said, while promoting his partnership with lawncare company Scotts. 'In terms of, stadiums weren't even necessarily all full for these Club World Cup games, and they're going to be completely full for World Cup games. So how you deal with capacities, how you deal with weather, all these things can change. 'I think it was the Chelsea game that gets delayed for two hours, stuff like that. You need to prepare for these kinds of things when they happen, and make sure teams are prepared for them as well.' While the Club World Cup has gathered momentum in the latter stages of the tournament, there have been issues such as slow ticket sales, empty seats and complaints about the playing surface at MetLife Stadium (where the World Cup Final will be held). The home of the New York Giants and Jets in East Rutherford, New Jersey is notoriously inconvenient to get to, and Adams is already wary of the challenges that could present fans next year. 'Travel is a big one, isn't it? It's not the normal Premier League where you can take a bus. You know what I mean? It's going to be not easy,' he said from his hometown of Wappingers Falls, New York on Tuesday. 'But listen, also, we're getting escorted in police escorts and all this stuff. So we have a luxury of being there, but for fans and stuff like that, it could prove to be difficult at times.' The midfielder's comments from the newly-named Tyler Adams Soccer Pitch came not even two full days removed from the USA's Gold Cup Final loss to Mexico. While Adams hailed the 'experience' that much of the new-look, essentially B-team USA squad got in the 2-1 loss to El Tri, much of the discussion during the tournament focused on who wasn't in the camp. Christian Pulisic, most notably, earned plenty of criticism for taking a summer break to recharge his batteries, while Antonee Robinson, Sergino Dest and Folarin Balogun all took time away as well for injury maintenance. Regardless, Adams has his teammates' backs and believes the Gold Cup absentees will have big roles to play in the future. 'I support whatever the player needs. People are talking about the culture of our team, and guys that want to be there. The guys that weren't there have helped build the culture of our team as well. They're significant in every single part of US Soccer,' he said. 'So if people need a rest and people don't need to be there, that's obviously a personal decision and a decision that they need to make, and whenever they start to funnel back in now, we know that we have something to build off of with the players that were there. 'So again, they're gonna have a significant role to play with the national team, no matter the circumstances, but we are building something special under Mauricio and he's done a really good job.' Pochettino has had a choppy start with the United States, as his side have struggled against top competition, including a 4-0 friendly loss to Switzerland - admittedly without his top players. There has also been a perception in certain corners that the Argentine, 53, is not fully committed to the job, and it didn't help his reputation when a report from Irish outlet claimed that he had interviewed for the Brentford job. He later denied the report while speaking to Fox Sports, and Adams wasn't overly concerned with hearing his coach's name next to a big opening. 'This guy's going to get linked to any job that's available,' he said. 'I mean, he's coached PSG, Chelsea, Southampton, Tottenham, those are all massive jobs. So I'm not surprised by it at all, and I can guarantee mid-season in the Premier League, there will be coaches that are getting sacked, and he'll be linked to a job in the Premier League. 'That's just the nature of being a coach, and it works both ways. And he's even said this before. It's like, anything can change in a blink of an eye. So you obviously always have to be on your toes. But we're very fortunate to have him.' Adams didn't play under Pochettino until March following the coach's appointment to the role in September, but came away hugely impressed by what he saw during a nearly 40-day stretch of working together this summer. 'He taught me a lot about the game, just in terms of being difficult on me, making sure I'm doing the little things to improve, understanding that when we're on the field, it's time to work for the team, and when we're off on the field, take a step away,' Adams began. 'You need to see your family, go ahead. You need to do like, whatever. 'He's such an open person, and he's very transparent in the way that he works, which is great, because I think in the beginning people were obviously nervous. It was like, "Oh, we don't want to step on eggshells" and got to be careful around him. 'But he's so transparent, he wants you to come and have a conversation with him, sit down for five, 10 minutes, understand what you need, what he needs. And I think we're on that page now with every single player, which I think is important.' While Pochettino insisted that the roster at his disposal this summer was the one that 'deserved to be here', his squad at the World Cup will surely include bigger names such as Pulisic. The likes of MLS' Diego Luna and Sebastian Berhalter, meanwhile, also made a case for themselves in recent weeks. What's for sure is that Adams views this summer in a positive light. 'From a perspective of "Is our team in a better spot now?" I think 100 per cent, because you gave guys experiences that didn't have experiences in tournaments before with the national team, and they're gonna be able to use those experiences moving forward,' he said. 'So now, the next time we play Mexico, and there's 80,000 people in the stands screaming for goals and whatever, it's nothing new to us. It's now an experience that we've had, and we can move on grow from that.'
BBC News
22 minutes ago
- BBC News
Could Jersey qualify for the T20 World Cup?
"We're three good hours of graft away from potentially qualifying for the World Cup," muses Jersey captain Charles results go their way, the Channel Island with a population of around 100,000 people could be facing the likes of India, England or Australia at the T20 World Cup next February. With one game left in the European qualifying tournament in the Netherlands Jersey know that if they beat Scotland on Friday, they are in with a chance of mixing it with the world's best. "It would obviously be the pinnacle of Jersey cricket's history if we were to qualify for a World Cup," says Perchard, known by his nickname 'Chuggy'. "I debuted in 2010, so a long time ago now, and we were playing through the World Cricket Leagues, quite lower ranked."But we've got a great group of players that have propelled us up to where we are today and to even be talking about a World Cup looked miles off all those years ago,"But now we've got to a level where we're consistently competing against Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands for chances to qualify in the World Cup, whereas previously 10 years ago we weren't even making this qualifying tournament, so we've come a long way in such a short space of time and it's a great achievement." Joining the ICC pathway was 'bit of a risk' Jersey only began playing international cricket in 2005 when those running the sport on the island felt they needed a better standard of then their biggest day each year was a match against neighbours Guernsey and the odd tour to England or a home game with a touring side. One of the administrators who was key to helping Jersey first attain affiliate membership of the ICC, and then associate member status was Ward son Jonty has been a mainstay of the side since he was 14 - he spent time at Sussex's academy and was even 12th man for England for their first Test against South Africa at Lord's in 2017. "I think the work that Dad, Keith Dennis and Chris Minty put in to try and get us into the ICC pathway was huge and probably a little bit of a risk at the time," says Jenner, who now works as a cricket coach at a Sussex school as well as playing club cricket in the county."But they trailblazed it a little bit and thought 'well there's no point in us really going down a club club route or county cricket' and trying to get into the ICC world rankings was probably a very good thing." Jersey has a football team in the eighth tier of the English league system, but the island's FA were unable to become members of Uefa, while Jersey Reds won rugby union's Championship in 2023, only to go bust a few months later. So aside from athletes competing at the Commonwealth Games in sports such as bowls and shooting, cricket is providing the best international exposure."Kids in Jersey at the moment are almost spoiled for choice for sport," says spinner Dominic Blampied, who plays cricket alongside his work as a sports development officer on the island."It's fantastic to see so many sports grow and offer that opportunity to children and if we can be role models - and all sports across the board can be good role models to the next generation of athletes - it's fantastic and the island as a sporting nation, can only grow." Australia's Burns skippering Italy Jersey are third in the five-team round robin group going into the final round of matches, having lost to Netherlands, beaten Guernsey and had their game with Italy rained off. Victory over Scotland would ensure qualification should pool leaders Italy go on to beat hosts Netherlands later on Friday. It would be an even greater shock as Jersey's team are all part-time apart from Jersey born professionals Asa Tribe, who plays county cricket for Glamorgan and Wellington's Nick and Netherlands are both mainly professional sides while the Italians have been bolstered by a policy of bringing in cricketers with Italian heritage such as former Australia Test player Joe Burns, Harry and Ben Mananti, who have played for the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League, and Durham's Emilio Gay."When we get out there on the field it's a one-ball game and it doesn't matter if you're a professional or not, it's all about executing your skills as best as possible," says Perchard."Obviously them being a professional outfit does help them, but we've got immense pride and camaraderie as a unit that a lot of these other teams don't have, and that helps to bridge the gap massively."The islanders are playing in the final qualifying stages for a T20 World Cup for the fifth time, having reached the penultimate stage for the 2023 50-over World Cup two years ago. Jersey beat Italy to earn international status 20 years ago, and Jenner has no problems with countries bringing in players if it improves the sport. "Italy are trying to just spread the game," he says. "It would be pretty cool if Italy goes through and we go through to not have Scotland and Netherlands there, who were the top two teams."These guys that come in and play probably more towards the end of their careers, are still trying to play and spread the game."So it's frustrating for us because we can't do it to the same extent as them, but you play the ball rather than anybody on their reputation" Do not rule out a Jersey surprise against Scotland - they were three balls away from beating the Netherlands on Saturday and have come close against Zimbabwe, Ireland and the Scots in previous qualifying tournaments. "We get after these teams and away from home we really punch above our weight," says Blampied a day before the game."The toughest test was probably facing the Netherlands in their home conditions in front of the home crowd, and to be three or four balls away from winning the fixture was a tough one to take at the time, but we bounced back well."It's easy to look down the track and say 'if we win tomorrow, we're going to rule the world', but we need to focus on tomorrow."
North Wales Chronicle
39 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Scotland focused on big picture with Fiji clash key to world ranking
Townsend has stressed the importance of the fixture as well as the upcoming clash with Samoa as Scotland look to lock in a top-six ranking ahead of the draw for the 2027 World Cup in Australia in December. Currently ranked seventh, his side want to avoid a similar fate to 2023 when they were placed in a group with both Ireland and South Africa and failed to progress to the knockout stages. Your Scotland side set to face Fiji in the 2nd round of the Skyscanner Pacific Tour in Suva 🏴 🇫🇯 Available to watch Live on Premier Sports. Read more ➡️ #SkyscannerPacificTour — Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) July 10, 2025 'This is a one-off game in terms of our tour, but there is also the bigger picture and that is the World Cup draw in November,' said Townsend. 'This is a very important game going into the Samoa Test, and also the Tests we have in November, to put ourselves in the best possible position to get into that top six.' Townsend has made 14 changes to the side that featured in the win over the Maori All Blacks last week, with Saracens fly-half Fergus Burke handed his first cap and 25-year-old Rory Darge stepping up as the team's stand-alone captain for the first time. Townsend paid tribute to the recent improvements made by the New Zealand-born Burke, who was part of the Scotland squad throughout this year's Six Nations but did not get a chance to impress. 'There's a lot of things to like about Fergus's game,' added Townsend. 'I think the most important element is how physical he's been with carrying the ball, but in particular in defence, he's been excellent this year with Northampton. 'His game management and understanding is up there with the best 10s. He's been a joy to work with, right through the Six Nations when he didn't get an opportunity, to now on this tour getting his chance for his first start.' Darge, who has previously co-captained Scotland alongside Finn Russell, steps up after a season tinged with double frustration, with his club Glasgow failing to retain the United Rugby Championship title and Darge himself missing the chance to join Russell in the Lions squad heading to Australia. Townsend said: 'Rory is more than just a leader by actions. When we brought him into the leadership group we thought that was his biggest strengths, but he's now got an experience and intelligence around the game. 'He's developing really well and getting opportunities to lead and captain is the best way to grow. We've seen that growth in him through this season and on this tour.' Scotland hammered Fiji 57-17 in their last meeting at Murrayfield in November but Townsend expects a much tougher encounter, with memories of his side's painful defeat in Suva in 2017 – his first loss as Scotland coach – still lingering. 'We didn't win the physical battle (in 2017), and that was really disappointing,' recalled Townsend. 'It's rare to see that happen in a Scotland team and if you have that performance you know you can never let it happen again. 'I think their biggest threat is their physicality. They're probably the biggest and most powerful men in world rugby, more so even than the South Africans. 'They combine the speed with raw power so we know they'll bring that with their ball-carrying and their big hits in defence. That's what we're going to have to match straight away, and also take our strengths to them.'
