Soccer-Women's Euro 2025 team profiles

The Star

2 days ago

(Reuters) -The Women's European Championship starts in Switzerland on July 2 where England will aim to retain their title. Here we profile the 16 teams hoping to get their hands on the trophy.
Belgium
The Red Flames proved they could compete with the best when they upset England 3-2 in a Nations League game in April, thanks to two goals and an assist from Tessa Wullaert.
The 32-year-old Inter Milan forward, who has 92 goals in 144 appearances for Belgium, leads a team gunning for at least a second consecutive quarter-final appearance at the Euros.
World champions Spain are the favourites to win their group, but Belgium should be in the thick of the battle for second place with Italy and Portugal.
Denmark
The Danes will once again look to Pernille Harder as their talisman in a group where they will face Germany, Sweden and Poland, and though they have plenty of solid players, none has the star power of their 32-year-old record goalscorer.
Harder's finishing is superb, but so too is her playmaking, causing a headache for coaching staff tasked with getting the best out of both her and the players around her.
The surprise inclusion of 37-year-old striker Nadia Nadim by coach Andree Jeglertz has raised plenty of eyebrows in Danish football, and after a humiliating 6-1 friendly defeat to Sweden in early June, the Danes have a lot to improve upon before the tournament.
England
The defending champions head to Switzerland after a rocky few weeks that saw defender and co-captain Millie Bright withdraw her name from contention to focus on her mental and physical health and goalkeeper Mary Earps announce her shock international retirement after losing her starting role to Hannah Hampton.
The Lionesses, who have also had a rough patch of results with just three wins to show for their last six matches, were drawn into a tough group with France, the Netherlands and Wales.
But Sarina Wiegman's squad is a solid mix of veterans and youth, with 13 members of the victorious 2022 Euro team plus several promising young players such as Aggie Beever-Jones and Michelle Agyemang. And England have shown they can step up on the big occasions, finishing runners-up to Spain at the 2023 World Cup.
Finland
Finland's fortunes will depend on the fitness of forward Jutta Rantala, who has been troubled by a knee injury for much of the season leading up to the Euros, where they will face Norway, Iceland and hosts Switzerland in Group A.
The knee injury suffered by Leicester City striker Rantala is one of many knocks suffered by the Finns in recent months, but their defensive solidity and ability to attack down the wings will make them a threat in the group.
France
Les Bleues manager Laurent Bonadei raised some eyebrows when he left longtime captain Wendie Renard and all-time leading goalscorer Eugenie Le Sommer off his Euros squad signalling a changing of the guard.
He said "As Einstein said: 'Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.'"
Forward Kadidiatou Diani is the most experienced player in their absence for a French team aiming to get past the quarter-final stage, having been eliminated in the last eight at last year's Olympics and the 2023 World Cup. They reached the semi-finals at the 2022 Euros where they were ousted by Germany.
France head to Switzerland on a run of seven consecutive wins.
Germany
The Germans once ruled European women's football, winning the European title eight times -- including West Germany's victory in 1989 -- and reaching the final nine times. After a shock group-stage exit at the 2023 Women's World Cup they are showing they are once again a team to beat, going undefeated in the Nations League this year.
Christian Wueck's squad will be out for revenge after a narrow 2-1 loss to England in the 2022 Euros final, when veteran Alexandra Popp missed the match after suffering a muscle injury during the warmup.
Germany will play their first major tournament since Popp, who bagged 67 goals in her 14 years with the national team, announced her international retirement in September. Bayern Munich forward Lea Schuller, who has 52 goals in 75 games, is the likely heir to the leadership role.
Iceland
Ranked among the outsiders by many bookmakers ahead of the tournament, Iceland head to Switzerland with a tough, competent side that needs to show it can score goals when it matters most.
Marshalled by Glodis Viggosdottir, the Icelandic defence is usually rock-solid but their inability to take chances, especially against the top-ranked nations, has proved costly in the past. They will look to forward Karolina Vilhjalmsdottir to continue the good form that saw her net four goals in six games in their recent Nations League campaign.
Italy
The Azzurri arrive at Euro 2025 knowing that consistency will be key if they are to make a mark on the tournament, where bookmakers are grouping them among the potential dark horses alongside the likes of hosts Switzerland, Denmark and Norway.
Runners-up in 1993 and 1997, Italy haven't made it out of the group stage at the last two Euros, but a draw with Spain and a win over Germany in two friendlies late in 2024 showed that the Italians are more than capable of holding their own against the top teams.
The problem coach Andrea Soncin faces is keeping his team on its toes. A solid 1-0 win over Wales got their Nations League campaign off to a good start earlier this year, but they were then beaten by Denmark and Sweden before securing two wins and a draw in their last three games to finish second.
The fact that Italy's top flight is now a full-time professional league has given the national team a boost, and Soncin's side will look to pounce on any mistakes made by their group rivals as they seek to make the quarter-finals for the first time since 2013.
The Netherlands
Euro preparations have been anything but ideal for the Oranje after it was announced that the Dutch federation would not extend manager Andries Jonker's contract after the tournament. He will be replaced by Wiegman's former assistant Arjan Veurink.
The Netherlands won the 2017 Euro tournament, but to have a chance of repeating the feat this year they must first get out of a tough group that also includes England, France and Wales.
There is also concern about the fitness of all-time leading scorer Vivianne Miedema who has missed considerable time for both club and country with knee injuries the past few seasons.
Norway
The last Euros in England saw the Norwegians slump to one of their worst defeats as they were hammered 8-0 by the hosts en route to an underwhelming group-stage exit, and though they will be hoping to bounce back in Switzerland, they will face a tough task.
In captain Ada Hegerberg, Caroline Graham Hansen and Guro Reiten, the Norwegians boast some of the world's best attacking players, but a leaky defence has proved their Achilles heel for the last few years.
The lack of naturally left-footed defenders contributed to their last-16 exit at the last World Cup, and the omission of left back Julie Blakstad, who was outstanding for Swedish side Hammarby in their recent Champions League campaign, was a surprise.
Ifcoach Gemma Grainger can find a way to solidify the left side of defence and get the most out of the injury-plagued Hegerberg, the Norwegians should have enough weapons in attack and midfield to make an impact.
Poland
Debutants Poland come into the Euros without the burden of great expectations, but with one of the game's great goal-scorers in Ewa Pajor.
With 47 goals in 46 games across all competitions for Barcelona this past season, the 28-year-old attacker is by far the best-known name in the Polish squad, and she represents the best hope they have of causing an upset against Germany, Sweden and Denmark in Group C.
Portugal
The Portuguese are hoping to advance to the knockout stage for the first time in a major tournament, but have been hit by injuries with Gotham FC forward Jessica Silva missing several weeks earlier this year with a damaged retina and Barcelona's Kika Nazareth recovering from ankle surgery she had in March.
Portugal were trounced in their last four Nations League matches by an aggregate score of 20-3 and will find it tough to get out of a group that includes favourites Spain plus Belgium and Italy.
Spain
The world and Nations League champions head to Switzerland as favourites to win the competition, with bookmakers placing them ahead of England, France and Germany as the most likely victors.
Orchestrated by Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmati, Spain's possession-based style is made possible by a squad bristling with technically gifted and tactically intelligent footballers in every position, but though they have often been superb since beating England to win the 2023 World Cup final, results over the last year have shown that they can be beaten.
After a disappointing Olympic tournament in Paris last year that saw them lose to Germany and Brazil, former player and current coach Montse Tome has faced questions about her tactical choices and coaching, and a 1-0 defeat by England in the recent Nations League campaign did little to assuage that criticism.
On paper, Spain are the best team in the tournament, but Portugal, Belgium and Italy will all be keen to put a spanner in the works when they meet in the group stage.
Sweden
Despite increased competition in the women's game, the Swedes have managed to hang on to their status as one of the top teams, and they will be hoping to give coach Peter Gerhardsson and some of the more senior players a fitting send-off in Switzerland.
Gerhardsson will step down after the tournament and though few of his squad have said they will retire, it is packed with experienced players over the age of 30.
Two Olympic silver medals in the last decade show that the Swedes can still hold their own with the world's best, but there will be no room for complacency in a tricky group with Germany, Denmark and Poland.
Striker Stina Blackstenius comes into the tournament on the back of netting the winning goal for Arsenal in the Champions League final against Barcelona and the Swedes will need similar heroics if they are to go all the way at the Euros.
Switzerland
Pia Sundhage's squad have not won in their last eight games, a streak that stretches back eight months, but the tournament hosts are hoping the home crowd can help carry them past the group stage for the first time at a European championship.
Their run to the round-of-16 at the 2023 World Cup is a reason for optimism, plus a favourable draw has them in a group with Iceland, Norway and Finland, with Iceland being the highest-ranked team at 14th in the world.
Lia Walti, who helped Arsenal to their recent Champions League success, is Switzerland's maestro in the midfield.
Wales
Rhian Wilkinson's underdog team, the lowest ranked at the Euros, qualified for their first major tournament with a thrilling win over Ireland in December, and their squad was announced from the summit of Snowdon, the country's highest peak -- a nod to scaling mountains just to qualify for the championship.
A couple of recent draws with Sweden have given the Dragons a confidence boost, but they face a formidable group with holders England, France and the Netherlands, and would need some remarkable performances to advance to the knockouts.
The Dragons hope their Euros campaign becomes a launch pad for girls football in Wales much like it was for England in 2022, and their tournament slogan is: "For us. For them. For her."
(Reporting by Lori Ewing in Manchester, England, Philip O'Connor in Stockholm; Editing by Toby Davis)