Womens Football

Host country provided a record attendance and a summer spectacle despite a relatively modest football infrastructure

Twelve hours before Euro 2025 reached its crescendo the Uefa executive director of football, Giorgio Marchetti, addressed a hall of delegates in Basel. The morning coffees were still taking hold as officials from clubs, federations and other stakeholders settled down for a forum designed partly to debrief the previous month. There was no mistaking the congratulatory mood and Marchetti was determined to see it last. The tournament would not be “like a butterfly, over in 24 hours”, he said; instead its reverberations would be felt far into a burgeoning sport’s future.

There was certainly little sign of any effects dulling as afterparties swung long into the night following England’s heist against Spain. The overwhelming sense was of euphoria, sprinkled with relief, that host and governing body had pulled off what some viewed as a high‑wire act. Switzerland’s relatively modest football infrastructure, not to mention its muted appreciation of the women’s game, had raised eyebrows but it staged an event that delivered to the last.

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From Hampton to Kelly, Agyemang to Wiegman, the verdict on who shone the brightest and who was influential behind the scenes

Hannah Hampton (goalkeeper) Repaid her manager’s faith after she was made England’s No 1 before the tournament. Handled the pressure brilliantly with two player-of-the-match performances. Her two penalty saves in both of the Lionesses’ shootouts were crucial, as was her shot-stopping throughout. Produced match-saving stops in the final to deny Esther González and Clàudia Pina while her last-minute effort against Italy ensured the game went to extra time. 9/10

Appearances 6 | Minutes played 630 | Saves made 17 | Goals conceded 7 | Passing accuracy 73.3%

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Sarina Wiegman’s triumphant team arrived back in the UK, after becoming the first English team to win a major football tournament on foreign soil.

Playing an entire tournament with a fractured tibia is the type of undiluted commitment and individual sacrifice which carried team to glory

For some reason, as Chloe Kelly’s penalty hits the net and the England players explode across the pitch like streaks of white light, as Sarina Wiegman and Arjan Veurink embrace on the touchline, as England fans clutch each other in the stands, the eye is drawn to Khiara Keating of Manchester City.

Keating has not played a minute for England at this tournament. In fact, she has never played a minute for England at all. In fact, there was not the remotest possibility that she would play a minute for England at this tournament, and she knew this all along. Her entire Euros has consisted of training, travel and watching football from a hard bench. And yet at the moment of victory, nobody celebrates harder than England’s third goalkeeper.

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The England head coach’s laser focus, calm character and human touch have helped to elevate her team to greatness

“Who has got the ability to take us right to the top of Everest? That’s my job, to find that person for the players, they deserve the best.” Those were the words of Sue Campbell, the Football Association’s former head of women’s football, in the summer of 2020 as – alongside the chief executive, Mark Bullingham, and technical director, Kay Cossington – she sought to find a new England head coach to replace Phil Neville, who was to leave his role the following year.

The Lionesses had reached three consecutive major tournament semi-finals, but kept enduring heartbreak and missing out on an elusive final. The FA’s mission was simple: find someone with the knowhow to take the team to the next level. A total of 142 applied for the role, Baroness Campbell said at the time and it was Cossington who first suggested: “There’s this brilliant woman called Sarina Wiegman … ”

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England’s victorious women’s team flew home today to a warm welcome

• Heroes’ welcome in London to take place on Tuesday

• Goalkeeper Hampton pays tribute to late grandfather

Sarina Wiegman has said England’s defence of their European title “makes change” and “inspires people” far and wide, as the Lionesses prepare for a heroes’ welcome in an open-top bus parade along the Mall and in front of Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.

“We’re England and we want to win but there’s so much more than winning a game,” the head coach, who won a record third European title in a row following her Euro 2017 victory with the Netherlands and England’s triumph in 2022, told Lionesses channels.

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Four players from the victorious England side have been named in the Euro 2025’s team of the tournament.

Lionesses head for for home; parade set for Tuesday. England stun Spain | Tournament gallery | Mail Sarah

Here’s Tom Garry on “proper England” and “badass women”.

It it a piggyback? Yes. But it is great vibes when they’re sorely needed? Also yes.

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England beat Spain 3-1 in a penlty shootout to win Euro 2025 on Sunday, successfully defending the title they won in 2022 after an enthralling encounter.