Euro 2025 group games draw record crowds
OBERENTFELDEN, Switzerland - The group stage of the Women's European Championship which finished on Sunday had record-breaking attendances with close to half a million fans attending games, and 22 of the 24 of them sold out.
As well as 461,582 fans attending matches, there were several individual game records as well, according to European soccer's governing body UEFA.
The Germany v Denmark match in Basel drew 34,165 fans, which was the highest attendance at a group game not involving the host nation and the most spectators to attend a women's football match in Switzerland.
The more than 17,000 fans from Germany at that game was the most away fans to attend a women's Euro match ever while the crowd of 34,063 at Switzerland's game against Norway was a record crowd at a Swiss women's national team match.
"If it was not clear before, it is undeniable now – women's football is unstoppable and here to stay," Nadine Kessler, UEFA's head of women's football, said in a statement.
"This is more than a tournament; its' a movement, and the response from across Europe and beyond proves that women's football is not only here to stay – it is setting the new standard."
Even before the tournament kicked off, Euro 2025 had sold more than 600,000 tickets to surpass the 574,875 sold in 2022 in England.
Some 60,000 fans took part in fan walks to the stadiums, including 14,000 Swiss and Icelandic supporters who walked three kilometres to that game at the Stadion Wankdorf in Bern.
The tournament has also been a success on digital platforms, with 8.4 million engagements across its social media platforms, a 55% increase over the same period in 2022.
Spain and England scored 14 goals apiece in the group stage, matching the mark set by the English in 2022. Wales' Jess Fishlock became the oldest women's Euro goalscorer
at the age of 38 years and 176 days.
The quarter-finals begin in Geneva on Wednesday when Norway play Italy. REUTERS
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