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Reuters
a day ago
- Sport
- Reuters
Bronze and grit help England beat Sweden
ZURICH, July 17 (Reuters) - England heroine Lucy Bronze said it was "grit, determination and hard work" that pushed the team to win their UEFA Women's quarter-final against Sweden, as her teammates and coach paid tribute to her action-packed performance. The defending champions clawed their way back into the match after conceding two first half goals and scoring twice in the second half to take the match at Zurich's Letzigrund stadium to extra time and penalties. Bronze scored England's first goal, and the Chelsea defender went on to get the decisive goal in the penalty shootout, where England triumphed 3-2. The team was determined not to lose, Bronze said. "It wasn't beautiful, but it got us through." When asked about her own performance, she said: "I just keep going and going and going. "Hopefully that can just leak into the rest of the team. I think we have the type of team where we can influence each other, to push each other, to go for more." Coach Sarina Wiegman and teammate Beth Mead both paid tribute to Bronze. "Lucy Bronze is just one of a kind. I have never, ever seen this before in my life, and I'm... a very lucky person that I've worked with so many incredible people, incredible football players," Wiegman said. "What defines her is that resilience, that fight." Mead, a second-half substitute, also praised Bronze's performance. "I mean she did it all, and I think Lucy really showed her experience in those moments," Mead said. "She's our most experienced England player, and I think she was one of the players that very much got that determination out of us all today."
Malay Mail
3 days ago
- Sport
- Malay Mail
Sweden's fan revolution: How mothers and daughters built the ‘Soft Hooligans' movement for inclusive football
ZURICH, July 16 — Swedish supporters' group the Soft Hooligans have brought their chants, drums and message of inclusion to Switzerland to support their national team at Euro 2025, to promote good vibes in the stands and better conditions for women's football. The idea for the Soft Hooligans came about in 2017 when Kajsa Aronsson, 61, and her daughter Estrid Kjellman, 29, attended the Women's Euros in the Netherlands. 'It was just so incredibly dead. We shouted sometimes, we cheered, and people looked at us as if we were completely crazy,' Kjellman told AFP. 'We joked that we were hooligans. And then we were like: 'But we're not like other hooligans, we're soft hooligans',' she added with a big smile. The young woman then created a Facebook group to spread their message. 'In the beginning, there was no defined cheering section,' Aronsson explained. 'We had to build everything from scratch and get people to want to stand in the stands. Early on, it wasn't even that much fun to attend the games. You were on your own,' Kjellman said. Eight years later, with the Women's Euros now underway in Switzerland, the atmosphere has changed significantly, the two women noted, sitting in front of a ski lift in an alpine landscape wearing caps with the slogans 'More Women in Football' and 'Soft Hooligans'. 'There are many more Swedes here. I think there's a big difference with the other teams too,' said Kjellman. 'In England, there were several matches where the opposing team basically had no supporters. Now I think most teams have some kind of organised supporter group,' she added. A change they welcome enthusiastically. 'We definitely cheer for Sweden the most. But then you support women's football and want there to be more atmosphere, better football, better conditions,' said Kjellman. 'The culture in the stands is also a big part of making it more and more interesting to go to women's football matches.' Sweden's players celebrate with their supporters after winning the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 Group C football match with Germany at Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich, on July 12, 2025. — AFP pic Political message The Soft Hooligans stick to some core values: 'Everyone should feel welcome,' Kjellman stressed, underlining the inclusive and LGBTQ-friendly nature of the group. 'There are many families and children in the stands,' Aronsson explained. Their movement is not, however, without its detractors. 'We receive mocking comments about our name,' Kjellman said. 'But we choose not to focus on that,' her mother added. Kjellman lamented the ever-present political aspect of women's football. 'Women's football is still very marginalised. In Sweden, we've come a long way. But there's still a long way to go,' she said. 'In other parts of the world, girls don't have the opportunity to play football at all.' The two women are optimistic about younger generations. 'Women's football is much more accepted today. Now we have children who have (Spanish double Ballon d'Or winner Aitana) Bonmati as their favourite football player,' Kjellman noted. For the more immediate future, the Soft Hooligans are hoping for a Swedish victory in this year's Euros. In the stands, their massive banner proclaims '41 Years Since Last Time' on one side and 'Bringing the Gold Home' on the other, referring to Sweden's triumph at the inaugural Women's Euros in 1984. They are through to the quarter-finals in Switzerland after a completing a perfect group stage campaign with a 4-1 win over Germany on Saturday. 'I have never, as a national coach, experienced the kind of support we had,' said Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson. 'There was a whole section that was completely yellow with a little bit of blue, and we had people above our bench, so we were enclosed in a cool way.' Sweden will stay in Zurich for their quarter-final against reigning champions England. 'It feels great that we are playing here again on Thursday, almost like home advantage,' said Gerhardsson. — AFP
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Why do world champions Spain have so little Euros pedigree?
Spain arrived at Euro 2025 as world champions, UEFA Nations League title holders and one of the favourites — and promptly hammered Portugal 5-0 and Belgium 6-2 in their first two group-stage games. And yet, as they prepare to face host nation Switzerland in the quarter-finals on Friday, they will know this is the stage at which they have been eliminated from each of the past three European Championships. Thanks to their own successes in those other competitions and what the country's leading club side Barcelona have achieved in the Women's Champions League when fielding a team packed with Spanish internationals, Spain are always considered one of the teams to beat these days. But it has not always been that way, and their pedigree in this particular tournament tells a very different story. Advertisement Put simply, Spain have a love-hate relationship with the Euros. It is the first major tournament they ever qualified for, in 1997, but also the one that sparked the biggest rebellion in Spanish women's football. They have only made it to the finals five times in 13 attempts and reached the semis just once, with that feat achieved on their debut 28 years ago, when only eight teams were involved. Such was the nature of the women's game in Spain back then that few people expected them to get to the tournament, co-hosted by Norway and Sweden, including the players themselves — Roser Serra, their first-choice goalkeeper, had bought tickets to see Oasis in concert instead. Spain's women's team didn't play their first match until 1983, too late to even be involved in trying to qualify for the first Euros the following year. Attempts to get to the 1987, 1989 and 1991 editions of the tournament did not go well, with three wins in a combined 20 games. In 1993 and 1995, they came closer, finishing second in their groups at a time when only the top team made it through. Advertisement After that last-four appearance in 1997, they fell short again in 2001, 2005 and 2009 before making it to Euro 2013 in epic fashion. In the second leg of a play-off against Scotland, having drawn 1-1 away in the first leg, Veronica Boquete scored the decisive goal of a 3-2 win in the final minute of extra time in Madrid. 'That remains the best moment of my career, the most exciting one,' Boquete says. 'All of us who were there still remember it. It was a turning point for women's football in Spain. Qualifying for that Euro gave Spanish women's football a huge boost.' Boquete is considered the first big star to emerge in the women's game in Spain. 'We didn't live the 1997 Euro,' she adds. 'And I say we didn't live it because there was no media coverage of the tournament. The format was also different; it was a time when no one knew anything about women's football.' Advertisement In the group stage of that 2013 tournament in Sweden, they beat England 3-2 (on a stoppage-time goal from a 19-year-old named Alexia Putellas), lost 1-0 to France and drew 1-1 with Russia — enough to go through to the knockout phase in second place, where they were beaten 3-1 by Norway, the eventual runners-up. 'Reaching the quarter-finals earned us respect,' Boquete continues. 'When you're in the final stages of a European Championship, everyone knows you've had to do something to get there. Until then, it was very difficult for people to believe that Spain could beat any other team. 'But it's also true that then you remember we hardly had any friendly matches, we were staying in hotels located in industrial estates next to petrol stations… we didn't have the same facilities as other teams to recover quickly, and we had a fairly limited staff. 'I have fond memories of being part of that team, but also bad memories of thinking what could have been if everything around us had been better.' Advertisement By 2017, Spain's women were becoming a different proposition. It had been two years since Barcelona Femeni turned professional and other leading Spanish clubs were beginning to show a stronger commitment to the women's game, too. In the interim, there was an event that changed the course of the national team. After the 2015 World Cup, in Canada, the players stood up against the side's coach of 27 years, Ignacio Quereda. They complained of harassment and unprofessional treatment. The RFEF, the Spanish federation, brought in Jorge Vilda as his replacement. Come Euro 2017 in the Netherlands, Spain were again eliminated in the quarter-finals, but in surprising fashion as they lost to tournament debutants Austria on penalties following a goalless draw. Marta Corredera took Spain's last penalty in that shootout. Silvia Meseguer had missed the third one and while Corredera scored the fourth, it was not enough. 'They were a beatable opponent on paper,' says Corredera. 'But things didn't go well. We weren't up to the task. We didn't know how to react to different situations in the match, either on the pitch or from the bench. We left with the feeling that we could have done more.' Advertisement By this stage, at least things were getting better for the players off the pitch than in Sweden four years earlier. 'For the World Cup in 2015, the preparation was much better,' Corredera reflects. 'We played friendly matches, the plane trip was better… everything improved. We noticed an improvement in training, planning… an evolution that in the end was what we had asked for. 'We had it very clear in our minds that, once we were on a level playing field in terms of gym training and physical work, we would surely be superior, because we were already technically far ahead of the other teams.' And then came Euro 2022 — one of the most important moments in Spanish women's football as it sparked another rebellion. Advertisement The commitment to women's football in Spain had gained momentum, with Barcelona winning their first Champions League title in 2021. There was also a first Spanish winner of the Ballon d'Or Feminin that year in Putellas. However, the Barca midfielder ended up suffering an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury in training the day before the tournament in England began, and she was much missed when Spain's challenge began. This generation of players was the best the country had ever had, drawing heavily on that established Barcelona team. Standout names included Sandra Panos, Mapi Leon, Irene Paredes, Aitana Bonmati, Mariona Caldentey, Patri Guijarro and Ona Batlle, who was then playing for Manchester United. In the starting XI chosen by Vilda for the biggest games, more than half the players were supplied by Barca. Through to the quarter-finals again, they faced the hosts. Leading 1-0 with seven minutes of the 90 to go, Spain conceded an equaliser, then the winner after the tie went into extra time. The problem was not losing to a team as strong as England, who went on to lift the trophy. It was that the players felt they were not put in the best position by their coach to be able to deal with that situation. This is just one example among many other factors that caused them to snap. They felt the RFEF was not a professional organisation. Advertisement 'We went to England to win, but we saw that our desire and ambition did not match the expectations of the coaching staff or the RFEF,' Caldentey wrote in her book, How We Changed History. 'Against England, we were playing one of the best games of the national team. We were dominating England, and winning, but then Vilda ordered a change of approach to preserve the result, which was completely counter-productive. We don't know how to defend results. Our identity is to have the ball and look at the opponent's goal. 'The icing on the cake was the final message: that we had played well, that we were good, that it was a shame because we deserved to win. Well, no, I don't buy that. Maybe we needed to think that there are things we need to improve and stop navel-gazing so much.' Vilda had been in charge of the team for seven years by then but had been unable to win a single knockout match in an official competition. And yet he got a two-year contract extension before those Euros. This sent a clear message to the players that it did not matter how they performed in England, he would remain in charge regardless. They felt this would be inconceivable with the country's men's team. Advertisement The players wanted Vilda dismissed. They discussed this internally, but the content of their meetings was leaked to the media, accompanied by the RFEF's refusal to respond to their requests. Then, 15 players sent identical emails saying they could not report if called up for Spain duty until there were changes at the federation. Almost instantly, those 15 statements were made public and a war between those players and the RFEF began. The 15 were accompanied by three team-mates who, despite not sending an email like they did, had shown their support on social media — Irene Paredes, Putellas and Jenni Hermoso. They went months without being picked for Spain, until the first signs of rapprochement began to appear. Some asked to return, others did not. Of the 15, only three ended up going to the 2023 World Cup: Bonmati, Caldentey and Batlle. Spain won that World Cup despite the internal divisions and the little preparation they had been able to do as a group with the new additions — Paredes, Putellas and Hermoso were also there — and what ended up burying the RFEF's leadership came during the celebrations after the final. Advertisement Federation president Luis Rubiales kissed Hermoso on the lips during the trophy and medals presentation ceremony without her consent in an incident that transcended sport, before an infamous press conference in which he said he would not resign and spoke of 'false feminism', which led all Spanish female footballers to declare themselves ineligible for the national team until those responsible for what had happened left their roles. Hermoso reported him, Rubiales eventually resigned and it all ended in a trial where he was found guilty of sexual assault. The rest is history but the seeds of these major issues, which for the first time had international support for the players, had really come to the fore 12 months earlier at the European Championship. Three years later, with much less media hype than before, Spain are back at the Euros, as favourites. They have come an awful long way since 1997. This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Spain, Women's Soccer, Women's Euros 2025 The Athletic Media Company
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
England captain Williamson believes ‘relentless' Sweden are threat at Euro 2025
The England captain, Leah Williamson, has said Sweden deserve more respect and that their strong record at major tournaments should be spoken about more frequently, as the two sides prepare to meet in Thursday's Euro 2025 quarter-final. Sweden have reached the knockout stages of every Women's European Championship since 1995 and have been in the semi-finals at three of the past five Euros. They have also finished third in the past two World Cups and claimed silver medals at both the Rio and Tokyo Olympics. Williamson, however, feels Peter Gerhardsson's side go under the radar and are often underestimated. 'Sweden are a fantastic team, they're relentless in the way they go about their game,' the Lionesses centre-back said. 'I think they sort of avoid the expectation of every tournament, and nobody really talks about them, [which is] slightly disrespectful, I think, because they always show up and they always seem to pose a threat to most teams, and normally come out with a medal or [be] a semi-final team, so they're a strong team. We're looking forward to the fixture.' England have scored 10 goals in their past two games to qualify for the quarter-finals in style despite losing their opening match against France, and Williamson admitted it had been an 'emotional group stage, [with] lots of ups and downs' for the defending champions, but added: 'It's been a great display of our attacking football [against Wales] and obviously that's how you win games.' Sarina Wiegman's side had six different goalscorers against Wales, including Williamson's Arsenal teammate Beth Mead, who said England had watched Sweden's victory over Germany on Saturday. She said: 'They [Sweden] pose a very different threat and it's a team we have played a lot in the past and hopefully we can nullify what they're very good at and bring our strengths into the game.' Before their upcoming meeting in Zurich, England and Sweden shared two draws in 2024, but their most recent meeting in a major tournament ended in a 4-0 victory for England at Bramall Lane in their Euro 2022 semi-final. 'We've got a lot of experience against them,' added the England midfielder Georgia Stanway, whose penalty opened the floodgates against Wales on Sunday. 'Obviously they're tough, they're physical, they're more direct. I'm not sure we've faced that so far in our group.' 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 Asked if she felt England had the upper hand against the Swedes, the Bayern Munich midfielder Stanway replied: 'Not necessarily. It's tournament football. Anything can happen in 90 minutes. I think we just need to continue where we've been. If we have the intensity that we had against the Netherlands, if we press the way that we pressed, if we win the ball back as much as we did … we can only control what we can do. 'Today we focus on what the result that we've just had and how proud we are to get out of the group. There's been many days in this tournament where we could have actually been going home. So to be in this situation to be staying a few more days is something that we can proud of.'
Sky News
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Sky News
Tribalism without toxicity - and other reasons why this Women's Euros is so appealing
When orange-clad Dutch fans marched to the Zurich stadium to play England this week, their rivals were encouraged to join the procession. No need for segregated paths, nor heavy policing. The Women's European Championship has a different feel from men's football tournaments. Of course, there isn't a desire for games to be completely sedate or sanitised. Wins are as fiercely fought over, but encouraging tribalism without toxicity is so much of the appeal. "I would describe the male behaviour as aggressive or violent," fan Amy Cleall reflected on men's matches. "Whereas the women's experience, there's still that banter element, of home and away and competitiveness, but it's not scary or intimidating." There is alcohol allowed in Swiss stadiums at Euro 2025, unlike at any professional games in England. And the Football Association even staged a Lionesses fan event flowing with booze throughout Wednesday. But there was no sense of anyone overdoing it as England beat the Netherlands 4-0 here on Wednesday night. No signs either of rowdiness as victorious fans mixed with their humbled rivals. Female fans do feel safer at women's football. And this part of the sport can project an image of being more inclusive without fear of abuse. A male Wales fan we encountered during a sightseeing spot at FIFA HQ in Zurich contrasted going to women's and men's football. He said: "It's over-drinking, the use of substances which shouldn't be anywhere near a football ground and then it's hooliganism which you won't get at a women's game." The England and Wales faithful were mixing in the fan zone in Zurich last night ahead of their group-stage showdown, an hour away in St Gallen on Sunday. England fan Libby Bale said: "When you're at women's football you all come together." Two male fans - both football coaches who often follow England men's matches abroad - found this Women's Euros experience refreshing. "It feels more positive isn't it," James Rose said, turning to his friend. Watching Spain beat Italy, Connor Falp added: "A little bit more friendly. You can go and have a bit more conversation with other people we spoke to a lot." And England players have sensed the positive vibe when leaving their base to go into the city. Forward Lauren Hemp said: "When walking around Zurich, it's so nice to see younger girls, younger boys, wanting to grow up to be like you. "It's incredible and makes me so proud and remembering the journey that I had once when I was a young girl."
