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Japan Times
05-07-2025
- Sport
- Japan Times
Euro 2025 sets new record for female coaches
From tournament stalwarts Pia Sundhage and Sarina Wiegman to international debutant Rhian Wilkinson, the 2025 Women's European Championship, which kicked off on Wednesday in Switzerland, marks an historic high for female coaches. But while women's soccer is one of the better sports for female representation, male coaches still have a slight edge in terms of numbers with nine of the 16 teams at Euro 2025 coached by men and seven by women. The 43.75% of female coaches is a seismic leap from Euro 2013, where just 18.75% of teams were coached by women. That figure had nearly doubled by 2017 and held steady at 37.5% in 2022. "It's clear progress is being made — slowly but surely," the Female Coaching Network, a global community for female coaches, said. "Of course, there's still a long road ahead. Change takes time." Lack of success has not been a factor. Between 2000 and the 2023 Women's World Cup, all but one of the major women's soccer tournaments — the Women's World Cup, Women's Euros and the Olympics — were won by female-coached teams. The sole exception was the 2011 Women's World Cup, where Norio Sasaki coached Japan to the title. Wiegman was the last woman standing in 2023 in Australia, where England reached its first World Cup final, losing to Spain, which was managed by Jorge Vilda. Sundhage is by far the most experienced coach at Euro 2025, having been head coach of the United States and Sweden for five years each, Brazil for four years and now Switzerland. She guided the Americans to gold at both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Wilkinson, who is coaching Wales in its major tournament debut, Elisabet Gunnarsdottir (Belgium), Nina Patalon (Poland), and Gemma Grainger (Norway) are the four women making their managerial debuts in a major senior tournament. Women represented about 13% of all coaches at last year's Paris Olympics, which was virtually unchanged from the Tokyo Games.
Forbes
25-06-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
2025 Women's Euros Group A Preview: Hosts Switzerland Face Nordic Opposition
Switzerland is set to host its first major women's football tournament with this summer's Euros. The 14th edition of the UEFA Women's Euro is set to kick off in Switzerland on July 2. The hosts will compete in Group A, which looks tough to call from the get-go. 🇨🇭 Switzerland Current FIFA Ranking: #23 Euro History: 2 previous appearances; best result: group stage (2017 and 2022) Major International Trophies: N/A Switzerland are in the curious position of having reached the knockouts of the FIFA Women's World Cup in both of their appearances at the tournament, but never having made it past the group stage at the Euros. Their status as a pot 1 team should theoretically give them a good chance of changing that this time around, but their group looks anything but straightforward. Legendary Swedish head coach Pia Sundhage took on Swiss national team job in 2024, aiming to set the team up for a strong home Euros campaign. She got off to quite a good start, but her side could not sustain that momentum and will head into this tournament on an eight-match winless streak, which include all six of their group matches from the latest UEFA Women's Nations League. In truth, the Swiss squad is far from the strongest in their group, let alone the Euros. They are not helped by the fact that they seem to be in the middle of a generational shift, as five of their starters in their last match were aged 23 or younger, while all but two others were 28 or older. Sundhage's back five setups in the Nations League suggested that she aims to make her team as tough to break down as possible and hope to get some joy on the break, but that could be a tough ask given their lack of serious firepower up front. Sydney Schertenleib may be the youngest player in the Swiss squad, but she could well also be their most important figure. While more experienced figures will be tasked with keeping things tight in midfield and defense, the Barcelona starlet may have to make something out of nothing going forward. Despite her young age, Sydney Schertenleib stands out on the field thanks to her height and yet is ... More extremely elegant on the ball. (Photo by Sathire Kelpa/Eurasia) The 18-year-old forward looks a very promising prospect, having regularly featured for a star-studded Barcelona side in the latter part of the 2024/25 season. She also seems to have the trust of her national team head coach as she started all six recent Nations League games. Schertenleib's on-ball ability might just lead to an unforgettable moment or two at the Euros. While Switzerland will surely like to make their Euros knockout debut on home soil, home advantage might not prove enough to get the better of the likes of Norway and Iceland in this group. 🇳🇴 Norway Current FIFA Ranking: #16 Euro History: 12 previous appearances; best result: Champions (1987 and 1993) Other major International Trophies: FIFA Women's World Cup (1995) and Olympic gold medal (2000) Despite being one of the most successful teams in Europe historically, Norway have always flattered to deceive of late. They have not reached a major final for over a decade now and have not won the European crown in over 30 years, thus dropping to their lowest-ever FIFA ranking. Norway still have some of the world's very best players, so their only challenge is to put everything together nicely. Gemma Grainger has been given that task since 2024, but has not gotten everything to click so far. The two-time champions needed to go through the play-offs to qualify for these Euros, and they only won two of their six Nations League games earlier this year. The Welsh head coach has a wealth of attacking talent to work with but has yet to find a winning combination, so she may well continue tweaking some things through the Euros. She looks set on using a back four formation, but most things beyond that could still be up in the air. Being the current Ballon d'Or runner-up, Caroline Graham Hansen might be under even more pressure to deliver than usual in this tournament. She could 'only' register 30 goal involvements for her club side last season, marking a significant drop from a stellar 32-goal and 28-assist 2023/24 campaign. Evidently, the Barcelona winger is quite a handful even when she is not at her best. Caroline Graham Hansen's sharp changes of direction make her a nightmare to defend against. (Photo ... More by Marcio Machado/Eurasia) Hansen generally likes to play out wide on the right wing, but she has been asked to do a job in a more central role for her national team at times. So, it will be interesting to see whether Grainger asks her to adapt to her fellow attackers or sets the side up to get the best out of the Barcelona star. Despite their inconsistent recent form and subpar major tournament track record over the last few years, Norway will aim to reach the knockouts at a minimum. Having finished ahead of both Switzerland and Iceland in their latest Nations League group, they should be backed to top this group. 🇮🇸 Iceland Current FIFA Ranking: #14 Euro History: 4 appearances; best result: quarterfinalists (2013) Major International Trophies: N/A Perhaps surprisingly, Iceland are the highest-ranked nation in Group A. So, they must surely aim to significantly improve their record of one win in 12 matches at the Euros proper. Iceland head into the Euros on a nine-match winless streak, but their form is not as big of a concern as it might seem. They have faced some quite tough opposition in the last few months and managed to hold their own, suffering respectable defeats in two friendlies against the United States and putting up two tough fights against France as well as drawing against group-mates Switzerland and Norway in the recent Nations League campaign. Thorsteinn Halldórsson's side can often be quite tough to break down defensively, so their attacking performances could well determine their success in this tournament. Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir is approaching the age where she is expected to go from being a promising talent to now becoming a reliable key player for her teams, and there will be few better stages for her to do that than the Euros. The 24-year-old forward can pose a serious threat in transition both through her runs in behind and ball carrying, and she also has an absolute rocket of a long throw up her locker which Iceland will surely utilize. Despite their high ranking, Iceland are perhaps slightly underrated going into this tournament. They have the potential to frustrate stronger sides in the knockouts, so as long as they avoid stumbling in the group stage, they might turn out to be a surprise package this summer. 🇫🇮 Finland Current FIFA Ranking: #26 Euro History: 4 appearances; best result: semifinalists (2005) Major International Trophies: N/A Finland got the better of Scotland in the Euro qualifying playoffs to qualify for the tournament. Now, they will aim to register their first win in well over a decade and a half on the continent's biggest stage. Finland played in League B of the Nations League earlier this year, so they came up against relatively weaker opposition. They finished second behind Serbia in their group, with other mixed results including a comfortable win over Hungary and a goalless draw against Belarus. Those matches should not inform much of what they will do at the Euros, as they tend to switch tactics to try and become more defensively solid against stronger opposition. They shipped four goals to the likes of Norway and Italy last year despite making such tweaks, so they will have to step up their defensive organisation if they are to do well at this tournament. Tall center back Eva Nyström will be a key presence in Finland's back line both with and without the ball. She will have to show the best of her anticipation and reading of the game to clean things up at the back, while her height and aerial presence will also prove critical. The West Ham defender can be quite a good distributor given some time and space on the ball, so she will have a role to play in launching her team's attacks too. Qualifying for the Euros ahead of the higher-ranked Scotland already was a success for Finland, so going anywhere beyond that would be a huge surprise.
Daily Mail
25-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
'World's sexiest footballer' is on the losing team as Swiss women are beaten 7-1 by an UNDER-15s team in second defeat to youth side ahead of Euros
The Swiss women's team slumped to a 7-1 defeat to male Under-15 side FC Luzern in a disappointing warm-up match as they prepare to host the Euros next month. Alisha Lehmann, previously dubbed the 'world's sexiest footballer' was part of the side which took the lead through Alayah Pilgrim before conceding seven goals in a row to the youth team. The defeat was their second to an Under-15 side in their Euro 2025 preparations having also lost 2-1 to FC Solothurn. Footage of the match circulated on social media and reportedly received 70,000 views on TikTok before being deleted. Switzerland played a second-string team, with boss Pia Sundhage fielding 26 players, including third choice goalkeeper Nadine Böhi. Swiss Football Association media spokesperson Sven Micossé told Blick: 'It's not uncommon in women's football to compete against junior teams. 'The goal: to bring a certain competitive element. The focus during this phase of preparation is on the physical aspect. Regardless of the result, these training games are very similar to our international matches in terms of intensity and mileage.' Switzerland face Norway in their opening group game on Thursday and will hope to improve on their showing at the previous Euros, where they picked up just one point in three games. They will also take on Finland and Iceland in group A. Juventus star Lehmann is the national team's most famous player and boasts 16.7million followers on Instagram and 12m on TikTok. However, she was only handed a last-minute call up to the Swiss squad after being initially snubbed by Sundhage. The 26-year-old was given a spot in the squad after FC Koln midfielder Alena Bienz withdrew with an ankle injury. Reacting to her call up, Lehmann wrote on Instagram: 'I couldn't be happier to represent my country at the Euros. I'm so grateful for the opportunity. Let's make Switzerland proud and show how football is growing.' The former Aston Villa and West Ham forward's involvement in the Euros will come just months after her and Douglas Luiz reportedly called time on their relationship. Lehmann began dating Douglas Luiz in 2021 and they both secured moves to Juventus in 2024 The duo first began dating back in 2021, before they broke up a year later and rekindled at the start of 2024. Since then, the couple had enjoyed a close relationship and both sealed a move to Italian giants Juventus during the summer window last year. Luiz joined from Aston Villa for £42.4 million having emerged as one of the best midfielders in the Premier League. Lehmann followed suit just seven days later, also moving from Villa, and is contracted until 2027.
