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The Guardian
02-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Euro 2025 hosts Switzerland suffer own-goal and VAR heartache against Norway
Switzerland were denied a fairytale start to their home Euros as a goal from Ada Hegerberg and an own goal gave an unconvincing Norway three points. Nadine Riesen's first-half opener had fans spiralling, hope and ecstasy pouring from every corner of the ground, but their profligacy would prove costly as a moment of magic from Hegerberg and then Caroline Graham Hansen to force Norway's second turned the game on its head. There were doubts over the capabilities of the Nati coming into their home Euros. Ramona Bachmann's anterior cruciate ligament injury denied the host nation a figurehead, Lia Wälti's fitness was questioned after a stop-start season for Arsenal and only Finland and Wales sat below them in the Fifa world rankings. There was no dampened optimism from the sea of red that marched towards the stadium for an hour in the searing heat, ready to spend an evening peeling sweaty backs off plastic seats as the temperature remained at 32C at kick off. The mood was electric inside St Jakob-Park, the home of FC Basel, and although the 37,500-capacity stadium was no match for the 2022 opener at Old Trafford in scale, it made up for it in volume. 'Wäl-ti, Wäl-ti, Wäl-ti' the fans chanted towards their talismanic captain, whose visage adorns Adidas billboards across the city facing off with Germany's Jule Brand. If a crowd could compensate for the small pool of players available, the league in Switzerland not yet being fully professional and only five of the 23-player squad playing their domestic football on home soil, then it did its best to do so. The energy from the crowd was matched by the energy on the pitch. The Nati had come to compete, not just host. Expectations around their opponents were cautiously high. Norway possess individual attacking talent that would be the envy of any team and yet they have struggled in international tournaments, a team of galáctico talents that at times look like they don't know each other. At the World Cup in 2023 they scrapped through the group stage by the skin of their teeth, losing to Japan in the round of 16, and have failed to escape the group in the previous two editions of the European Championship, including suffering a humiliating 8-0 defeat to England in 2022. Drawn in, on paper, the easiest group of the tournament, there was reason for optimism and the recruitment of England's Gemma Grainger to lead the side has led to an upswing in optimism, if not results. If this was their time to make a statement, they didn't present their case in the first half. Instead, it was the home team, led by Pia Sundhage, that impressed. There was an energy to the Swiss and their wingers in particular had great joy in behind Norway's wing-backs. Wälti and Géraldine Reuteler both tested the goalkeeper Cecilie Fiskerstrand from distance and their four corners inside 15 minutes was a reflection of a fighting spirit. Reuteler stung the bar soon after and the opening goal to reward the patient and encouraging crowd arrived four minutes later. Riesen, given an acre of space on the left, swung herself towards the box before sending in a low cross for Smilla Vallotto. She failed to control the ball or get a shot away but Riesen was on hand to collect, creeping it past Fiskerstrand and in. Sign up to Moving the Goalposts No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women's football after newsletter promotion The Swiss began the second half as they had the first, but Norway pulled themselves back into the match out of nowhere nine minutes after the restart, Hegerberg powering in a header from close range after the Swiss goalkeeper Livia Peng had flapped at a rare Norway corner. It was a flattering scoreline for the favourites and they punished the hosts for not capitalising on their dominance four minutes later, a quiet Graham Hansen bursting to life and escaping 18-year-old Iman Beney on the left before hooking the ball into the middle toward Hegerberg. Julia Stierli got in ahead of the Champions League record goalscorer but deflected the ball into her own net. For the first time the Norwegian fans could be heard over the Swiss, having previously been drowned out and camouflaged, red shirts among red shirts. It was almost disaster for the hosts in the 67th minute when Reuteler handled from a corner and the referee pointed to the spot, but Hegerberg put her penalty wide. After that reprieve, Riesen went down under pressure from Mathilde Harviken at the other end, contact looked minimal, but the decision mattered little as VAR overturned the initial penalty decision for a marginal offside in the build-up. Switzerland fought to the end but could not find the final ball that would give them a point. Defeat will hurt, but this was a performance full of promise, one that will act as a warning to Finland and Iceland of what is to come but also took the fans watching on a journey full of passion that will likely reap rewards.
The Hindu
01-07-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Women's EURO 2025: ACL research in women's football needs to focus on prevention over cure
Breaking the cycle of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in women's football requires a shift in the conversation away from biological differences such as wide hips and hormonal fluctuations during menstruation, according to experts. Instead, the focus should be on risk factors that can be controlled, they say. Women's Euro 2025, which kicks off on Wednesday, will be without Swiss striker Ramona Bachmann who will miss the tournament in her home country after tearing her ACL less than three weeks ago, underscoring the devastation the knee injury can cause in the women's game. While studies show women are up to eight times more susceptible to ACL tears than men, there is scant research on the injury in professional women's football. 'We want to move away from these kind of stereotypical views that women are just more susceptible to it because of the way that their bodies are,' Alex Culvin, Head of Strategy and Research for Women's Football at global players' union FIFPRO, told Reuters. 'They can't take the high workload, all of these quite nonsensical, illogical, overly kind of feminized ways of looking at ACL injury. Detailed vector illustration of a normal and torn ACL in the human knee, highlighting anatomical differences | Photo Credit: Getty Images 'We really want to hone in on things that we can affect. We can't change women's physiologies but what we can change and what we can adapt and improve are the conditions in which ACL injuries occur.' Culvin, a lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, is part of Project ACL, a three-year study launched by FIFPRO, the Professional Footballers' Association, Nike and Leeds Beckett with the Women's Super League. There is interest in expanding the study to other women's leagues around the world. 'Obviously you've got non-modifiable risk factors which are predominantly physiological but you've got modifiable risk factors which count for calendar, number of games, travel and then actual physical environments that players play in, their working environments, and that's what our focus is,' said Culvin, who played professionally for Everton and Liverpool. Culvin is calling for minimum standards across the women's game to eliminate risk factors in the working environment, in areas such as access to physiotherapy and pitch condition. 'We want to gather as much data around these environmental risk factors as possible and start to build out an evidence base that's not been built before on ACL injury,' she said. STRESS HORMONES Dale Forsdyke, a Lecturer in Sports Injury Management at York St. John University in England, said psychological factors had to become part of the conversation around injury. 'We often forget footballers are human and we forget that the life stresses that they're exposed to can be really significant. What does it do to their bodies?' Forsdyke said. 'We know that it alters their stress hormones. We know that it can impair muscle repair from physical load, and it can give them some peripheral narrowing so their attentional focus goes. The quality of pitches, access to physiotherapy, hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle and properly-fitting boots have all been highlighted among potential contributing factors, with players such as England's Beth Mead, Dutchwoman Vivianne Miedema and Australian Sam Kerr all grudging members of the 'ACL club.' Swiss striker Ramona Bachmann and England defender Ella Morris will both miss the July 2-27 European Championship in Switzerland after suffering ACL tears. 'There's obviously a behavioural mechanism with stress -- if I can't deal with these stresses, then that's going to impact my sleep quality and quantity. And we know that sleep (is important) as a recovery strategy.' Forsdyke said while some teams were starting to work with sleep specialists and include testing for the 'stress hormone' cortisol as part of player health screening, if they employed a psychologist, it was usually reactionary. They were often consultants, brought in for injured players or when a problem occurred. Forsdyke spoke about psychological risk factors in injury to more than 500 medical professionals at the ninth UEFA Medical Symposium in Lugano, Switzerland, earlier this year. The symposium's focus for the first time was on women's football. UEFA's chief medical officer Zoran Bahtijarevic, who hosted the symposium, appealed to coaches at all levels to learn about preventative programmes in order to help reverse the ACL trend in the women's game. Hannah Glas will not play at the Euros for Sweden, announcing her international retirement last October to focus on her club career after her string of ACL injuries. | Photo Credit: Getty Images FIFA 11+, a warm-up programme aimed at preventing injuries, is one of the resources available to coaches. 'We need the attention of coaches. We need the attention of parents,' Bahtijarevic told Reuters. 'Coaches have a great responsibility to educate themselves, to establish healthy habits of preventive exercises which are (unrewarding) because the result might be obvious only in 20 years. 'But we want to make it a continuous effort to educate everybody involved that prevention is possible. It's boring because you have to repeat it two or three times a week, right? It's boring but efficient. 'So my advice is start doing this... prevention starts with you. Every Cristiano Ronaldo was once a grassroots player. Prevention starts there.'
The Star
01-07-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Soccer-Experts call for focus on risk factors to reduce ACL injuries in women's game
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) -Breaking the cycle of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in women's football requires a shift in the conversation away from biological differences such as wide hips and hormonal fluctuations during menstruation, according to experts. Instead, the focus should be on risk factors that can be controlled, they say. Women's Euro 2025, which kicks off on Wednesday, will be without Swiss striker Ramona Bachmann who will miss the tournament in her home country after tearing her ACL less than three weeks ago, underscoring the devastation the knee injury can cause in the women's game. While studies show women are up to eight times more susceptible to ACL tears than men, there is scant research on the injury in professional women's football. "We want to move away from these kind of stereotypical views that women are just more susceptible to it because of the way that their bodies are," Alex Culvin, Head of Strategy and Research for Women's Football at global players' union FIFPRO, told Reuters. "They can't take the high workload, all of these quite nonsensical, illogical, overly kind of feminized ways of looking at ACL injury. "We really want to hone in on things that we can affect. We can't change women's physiologies but what we can change and what we can adapt and improve are the conditions in which ACL injuries occur." Culvin, a lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, is part of Project ACL, a three-year study launched by FIFPRO, the Professional Footballers' Association, Nike and Leeds Beckett with the Women's Super League. There is interest in expanding the study to other women's leagues around the world. "Obviously you've got non-modifiable risk factors which are predominantly physiological but you've got modifiable risk factors which count for calendar, number of games, travel and then actual physical environments that players play in, their working environments, and that's what our focus is," said Culvin, who played professionally for Everton and Liverpool. Culvin is calling for minimum standards across the women's game to eliminate risk factors in the working environment, in areas such as access to physiotherapy and pitch condition. "We want to gather as much data around these environmental risk factors as possible and start to build out an evidence base that's not been built before on ACL injury," she said. STRESS HORMONES Dale Forsdyke, a Lecturer in Sports Injury Management at York St. John University in England, said psychological factors had to become part of the conversation around injury. "We often forget footballers are human and we forget that the life stresses that they're exposed to can be really significant. What does it do to their bodies?" Forsdyke said. "We know that it alters their stress hormones. We know that it can impair muscle repair from physical load, and it can give them some peripheral narrowing so their attentional focus goes. "There's obviously a behavioural mechanism with stress -- if I can't deal with these stresses, then that's going to impact my sleep quality and quantity. And we know that sleep (is important) as a recovery strategy." Forsdyke said while some teams were starting to work with sleep specialists and include testing for the "stress hormone" cortisol as part of player health screening, if they employed a psychologist, it was usually reactionary. They were often consultants, brought in for injured players or when a problem occurred. Forsdyke spoke about psychological risk factors in injury to more than 500 medical professionals at the ninth UEFA Medical Symposium in Lugano, Switzerland, earlier this year. The symposium's focus for the first time was on women's football. UEFA's chief medical officer Zoran Bahtijarevic, who hosted the symposium, appealed to coaches at all levels to learn about preventative programmes in order to help reverse the ACL trend in the women's game. FIFA 11+, a warm-up programme aimed at preventing injuries, is one of the resources available to coaches. "We need the attention of coaches. We need the attention of parents," Bahtijarevic told Reuters. "Coaches have a great responsibility to educate themselves, to establish healthy habits of preventive exercises which are (unrewarding) because the result might be obvious only in 20 years. "But we want to make it a continuous effort to educate everybody involved that prevention is possible. It's boring because you have to repeat it two or three times a week, right? It's boring but efficient. "So my advice is start doing this... prevention starts with you. Every Cristiano Ronaldo was once a grassroots player. Prevention starts there." (Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Clare Fallon)
The Guardian
24-06-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Women's Euro 2025 team guides: Switzerland
This article is part of the Guardian's Euro 2025 Experts' Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 16 countries who qualified. is running previews from two teams each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 2 July. The shock is still palpable. During the first week of Euros preparations in Magglingen, Ramona Bachmann tore a cruciate ligament in her left knee. The 34-year-old has been capped 153 times and scored 60 goals for the national team. Simply put, she is a pioneer of women's football in Switzerland and a great role model for many of the young players. There had been question marks over her fitness as she had played little for Houston Dash or the national team this season but it is still a huge setback for the hosts. The midfielder Lara Marti will miss the tournament after also suffering an ACL injury. Things have not been going well for the Nati recently. Going into the pre-Euros friendly against the Czech Republic on 26 June they were winless in eight games and had been relegated from the top division in the Nations League. It feels as if the age mix isn't quite right. The senior players, such as the captain, Lia Wälti, and Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic, are in the autumn of their careers and have struggled to stay injury-free. The next generation has potential, no doubt about it, but they are still young and have little international experience. The depth of the squad is actually better than ever but key players such as Wälti and Géraldine Reuteler really have to be fit for the hosts to have a successful tournament. Defence is another potential problem area. The coach, the Swede Pia Sundhage, is not spoilt for choice in the backline and the players who are available – such as Luana Bühler (Tottenham), Viola Calligaris (Juventus) and Nadine Riesen (Eintracht Frankfurt) – have not featured heavily for their clubs in the second half of the season. Recently the team has been playing in a 3-5-2 formation, which Sundhage is sticking to stubbornly despite it forcing players such as Iman Beney to play in a different role to the one they are used to at club level. Even the goalkeeping situation is open. The coaching staff settled on Elvira Herzog as their No 1 in November but both she and Livia Peng, who is joining Chelsea this summer, have made costly mistakes in 2025. With so many question marks heading into the tournament the team may need the passionate support of the home fans to go deep in the competition. When it was announced in January 2024 that the association had appointed Pia Sundhage, who led Brazil at the last World Cup, as coach for their home Euros there was a great deal of goodwill towards the Swede. 'A world-class coach for little Switzerland' was the overriding feeling in the media. A year and a half later and the initial euphoria has given way to disillusionment. The results are mixed at best. Seven wins in 18 games, with only the 2-1 victory in October against a France side weakened by injuries standing out. In addition to the lack of results, Sundhage's system is another reason for the criticism. She decided early on to stick with a 3-5-2 formation, regardless of the opposition. As she announced the squad she was also questioned if she had pushed some players – especially those who were not fully fit – too hard in the buildup, but the Swede was unrepentant. Sundhage has never made a secret of the fact that there is only one date that matters to her: 2 July, when Switzerland face Norway in their opening game. By then she must have changed the narrative around the team. It is one of the biggest challenges of her 30-year coaching career. Lia Wälti lost her starting place at Arsenal during the second half of the season but she is still the most important player for the national team. Her calmness on the ball and her experience are huge factors for the team to function at its best. Off the pitch she is the squad's integration figurehead, making sure that the younger players feel welcome. She is the public face of the Nati and, since 2019, its captain. She won the Champions League with Arsenal in May but has had problems getting back to her best after surgery to remove an abscess at the end of last year. Wälti's fitness is one of the big questions going into the Euros – for Switzerland she is simply irreplaceable. No matter who you talk to when it comes to women's football in Switzerland everyone raves about Sydney Schertenleib. The 18-year-old striker, who also has American citizenship, has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past year. After transferring from Grasshopper Club to Barcelona's youth team 12 months ago she is now a permanent member of the first-team squad, playing regularly. This season she won the double with Barça and helped them reach the Champions League final, even though she did not play in the defeat against Arsenal. Her technique and dribbling are a feast for the eye and she is the diamond of the many talented players coming through in Switzerland at the moment. The Women's Super League in Switzerland is not yet fully professional. Young talents such as Naomi Luyet and Iman Beney from the champions, Young Boys, or Noemi Ivelj from Grasshopper tend to move abroad sooner rather than later. Only the best clubs pay their top players a decent salary. Estimates suggest that only around two dozen players can make a living only from football, even though Basel and Grasshopper in particular have started to invest more in their women's sides in recent years. However, many clubs are happy if they can pay the minimum of 500 Swiss francs (£450) a month. Attendances are on the up, though, partly because of the Euros being staged in Switzerland. Young Boys set a record in March when 10,647 fans were at the Wankdorf Stadium to watch them play Grasshopper. Most matches, however, are played at smaller grounds and not always the best pitches. Media attention has risen, partly because the title is now decided in a playoff. And after the dominance of FC Zürich and Servette the league has become more balanced and is now closely fought. The home side have been very fortunate to have been drawn in what appears on paper to be the weakest group of the four. Despite their relegation from the Nations League top division, qualifying for the quarter-finals is a realistic prospect. Reaching the last four would be a huge surprise. The Switzerland team guide was written by Christian Finkbeiner for Blick.
BBC News
12-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Switzerland's Bachmann to miss home Euros with ACL injury
Switzerland striker Ramona Bachmann will miss the upcoming Euros in her home country after suffering a serious knee injury in former Chelsea player, 34, has won 153 caps for her country - scoring 60 times - but will miss the tournament and faces a long spell Swiss football federation said the injury happened without contact from another player. Tests on Thursday showed an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture in her left knee."I am deeply saddened to miss the Euros, especially here in Switzerland," Bachmann said. Bachmann has played at two World Cups and two European Championships, with the Swiss opening their Euro 2025 campaign against Norway on 2 is to fund research into whether hormonal fluctuations during menstrual cycles could be contributing to the rise in ACL injuries in women's Ella Morris and teenage Wales defender Mayzee Davies will miss the tournament with similar injuries.
