After England’s successful title defence at the 2025 UEFA Women’s Euro on Sunday, July 27, it is time to review the tournament as a whole.
It was an extraordinary success by any measure.
The victorious Lionesses may not have played the most entertaining football in the competition, but given that they came back so many times from setbacks, ultimately, their win was deserved.
Not only did England overcome their opening match defeat to France, but they also came back from two goals down with mere minutes to play against Sweden in the quarter-finals. They also went from staring defeat in the face against Italy in the semis, as well as ultimately coming from behind to beat Spain in the final.
Of course, when it comes to the late, decisive spotkick in the semi-finals, the Italians have every right to feel aggrieved about that controversial refereeing decision.
Individual Praise
But other than that, the English team are the rightful champions of Europe once again. They showed an unmatched determination to win, and they did so deservedly.
Amongst others, the key to the comebacks was super sub and young player of the tournament, Michelle Agyemang, with two decisive goals off the bench.
Also deserving of praise is coach Sarina Wiegman, who has now won her third consecutive Women’s Euros, while also having two FIFA World Cup runners-up medals. A truly incredible accomplishment over the last eight years.
Reports also came out that Lucy Bronze has somehow played the tournament with a broken leg, which is unbelievable, though not something that should be emulated.
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A Women’s Euro for the Record Books
The tournament was a huge success off the field, too, pulverising the attendance and television viewing records from 2021 in England.
There was a total attendance of 657,291. This is a new record, even surpassing the 2021 attendance figure, even though the opening match then was played there at Old Trafford and the final took place at Wembley.
The stadia in Switzerland were nowhere near as big as those two cathedrals of English football, yet they were overwhelmingly full. 29 of the 31 matches this time around were sold out.
Meanwhile, reportedly more than 400,000,000 people watched the matches on television worldwide. This shows that there is a global boom going on in the popularity of the women’s game, particularly here in Europe.
The Legacy of the 2025 Women’s Euro Yet To Be Determined
The major success of this tournament was for women’s football needs to be capitalised on. Of course, UEFA and the national federations must do their part, but the bulk of the work needs to happen at the grassroots level, particularly at the club level, locally.
Young girls and women must be given opportunities to play as much as possible, under the best available circumstances.
At the top level, the idea of equal pay is important, but first, there must be what some call equal play, meaning that the overall infrastructure needs to be equal to that of the male players first.
That is the next step forward for everyone associated with the women’s game for now.
Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / SOPA Images
Recording Date: 29.07.2025