Monday, December 16, 2024

Euro 2025 draw LIVE: England and Wales learn opponents as groups drawn

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The Euro 2025 draw takes place as defending champions England and first-time qualifiers Wales discover their group stage opponents ahead of next summer’s tournament in Switzerland.

The Lionesses claimed home glory at Wembley at Euro 2022 as they defeated Germany to lift their first major honour. But a mixed year of results means Sarina Wiegman’s side find themselves in Pot 2 of the Euro 2025 draw, with Spain, France and Germany all potential opponents, along with hosts Switzerland.

Wales secured a historic place at the Euro 2025 finals as they defeated the Republic of Ireland in a play-off to reach a major tournament for the first time. The debutants will be in Pot 4, with the draw determining the four groups of four teams as well as the path through to the quarter-finals, semi-finals and Euro 2025 final.

The tournament itself kicks off on July 2 with hosts Switzerland opening the Championships. Follow the Euro 2025 draw below as England and Wales learn their group stage opponents

Euro 2025 draw LIVE: England and Wales learn opponents

  • Euro 2025 draw takes place in Switzerland

  • England will play opening game against France in Group D

  • First-time qualifiers Wales are in Pot 4

  • Why are holders England in Pot 2 of Euro 2025 draw?

Euro 2025 draw LIVE

17:36 , Jamie Braidwood

We continue with Pot 3…

Group A: Switzerland, Iceland, Norway

Group B: Spain, Italy

Group C: Germany, Denmark

Group D: France, England

Euro 2025 draw LIVE

17:34 , Jamie Braidwood

England will play France in the group stages of Euro 2025.

And it will be England’s first match, too, on July 5 in Zurich.

Euro 2025 draw LIVE

17:33 , Jamie Braidwood

Group A: Switzerland, Iceland

Group B: Spain, Italy

Group C: Germany, Denmark

Group D: France, England

Euro 2025 draw LIVE

17:32 , Jamie Braidwood

Pot 2 is next… the one to watch for England.

Euro 2025 draw LIVE

17:30 , Jamie Braidwood

We have started!

Group A: Switzerland

Group B: Spain

Group C: Germany

Group D: France

Euro 2025 draw LIVE

17:25 , Jamie Braidwood

Right, let’s go! The draw is about to begin. Some nervy moments left for England fans… who will be hoping to join Switzerland in Group A. For Wales, this is just excitement. It’s unlikely the debutants will get an ‘easy’ draw.

Euro 2025 draw LIVE

17:23 , Jamie Braidwood

Jill Scott brings the Euros trophy onto the stage as she joins Ian Wright. We’re getting closer…

“You can’t put it into words,” Scott says as she remembers Euro 2022. “We changed young girls’ dreams. It was very special. The progress has been incredible. It helps when you’ve got a great manager as well.”

Euro 2025 draw LIVE

17:17 , Jamie Braidwood

The Euro 2025 mascot, Maddli, a St Bernard puppy, is the next to join the stage. And the official tournament match ball has been unveiled too. It’s called the ‘KONEKTIS’, apparently.

Next we have a run-down of the 16 teams to reach Euro 2025.

They are, in alphabetical order: Belgium, Denmark, England (holders), Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland (hosts) and Wales.

 (Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

Euro 2025 draw LIVE

17:12 , Jamie Braidwood

Joining Ian Wright on stage during the draw is Lionesses legend and Euro 2022 winner Jill Scott.

Scott will be helping with the draw, alongside, Leonardo Bonucci, Veronica Boquete, Lara Dickenmann, Sami Khedira, Caroline Seger, Xherdan Shaqiri and Raphael Varane.

Dickenmann is Switzerland’s most successful women’s footballer and is an Euro 2025 ambassador.

Euro 2025 draw LIVE

17:07 , Jamie Braidwood

Ian Wright! We are in good hands as the England and Arsenal legend, and huge supporter of women’s football, hosts the draw alongside Swiss sports presenter Annette Fetscherin.

He says the Lionesses’ victory two summers ago “changed football in our country forever”.

Euro 2025 draw: Best and worse case for Lionesses

17:05 , Jamie Braidwood

Best case: Switzerland, England, Belgium, Wales

Worse case: Spain, England, Netherlands, Portugal

Fair?

Euro 2025 draw LIVE

17:02 , Jamie Braidwood

The broadcast begins with the first of what I’m sure will be many images of the Lionesses’ Euro 2022 triumph and Chloe Kelly’s iconic Wembley celebration.

Spain, Germany, France and the rest will be out to add a different name to the trophy while Wales and Poland get to enjoy a major tournament for the first time.

The ceremony obviously can’t simply feature the draw. First we have some music from Swiss artist ‘Stress’ featuring ‘Karolyn’.

Why are holders England in Pot 2 of Euro 2025 draw?

16:55 , Jamie Braidwood

England may be reigning European champions and ranked fourth in the world, but the Lionesses are in Pot 2 of this afternoon’s Euro 2025 draw ahead of their tournament defence next summer.

Sarina Wiegman’s side will face either Switzerland or one of the best teams in the world in the group stage, with Spain, Germany and France all joining the hosts in Pot 1.

Switzerland are among the top seeds for the 16-team tournament as they are the host nation and must be placed in position A1 – just as England were when the Lionesses hosted Euro 2022.

That means England could face a big-hitter in the group stages, with world champions Spain (2nd) and Euros runners-up Germany (3rd) positioned above the Lionesses in the Fifa world rankings.

Why are holders England in Pot 2 of Euro 2025 draw?

Euro 2025 draw: Stars involved

16:50 , Jamie Braidwood

This afternoon’s draw will be hosted by former Arsenal and England legend Ian Wright along with Swiss presenter Annette Fetscherin.

It will feature several star players from various European countries, including England’s Jill Scott, Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri, France’s Raphael Varane, Italy’s Leonardo Bonucci and Germany’s Sami Khedira.

 (Getty Images) (Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

Sarina Wiegman arrives for Euro 2025 draw

16:45 , Jamie Braidwood

England manager, and winning coach of the last two European Championships, Sarina Wiegman arrives ahead of the Euro 2025 draw.

The ceremony gets underway at 5pm but there will certainly be a bit of preamble before we get going.

A reminder of the pots for Euro 2025 draw

16:40 , Jamie Braidwood

Pot 1: Switzerland (hosts), Spain, Germany, France

Pot 2: Italy, Iceland, Denmark, England

Pot 3: Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Belgium

Pot 4: Finland, Poland, Portugal, Wales

Euro 2025 to offer record prize money

16:30 , Jamie Braidwood

Euro 2025 will offer record prize money of €41m (£34m) as Uefa confirmed an increase of 156 per cent from Euro 2022, but there remains a significant gap of almost €300m between men’s and women’s European Championships.

Switzerland will host the 16-team tournament next summer following a record-breaking Euros won by hosts England in 2022, and Uefa are hoping to smash viewership figures and sponsorship revenues amid the wider growth of women’s football in Europe.

The total prize money available to teams at Euro 2022 was €16m, with England taking just over €2m by winning the tournament at Wembley. The prize money on offer at Euro 2025 will be more than double what it was three years before, and the champions can win up to €5.1m when performance bonuses are added.

Euro 2025 to offer record prize money but €300m gap to Euro 2024 remains

Schedule for Euro 2025 matches

16:20 , Jamie Braidwood

Group stage matchday one: 2–5 July

Group stage matchday two: 6–9 July

Group stage matchday three: 10–13 July

Quarter-finals: 16–19 July

Semi-finals: 22–23 July

Final: 27 July

How are England shaping up ahead of Euro 2025?

16:00 , Jamie Braidwood

After winning the Euros in 2022 and reaching the Women’s World Cup final in 2023, the Lionesses have had a mixed spell in terms of results that has led to their position in Pot 2 of qualifying for Euro 2025.

First, England finished second to the Netherlands in the inaugural Women’s Nations League campaign, which followed the World Cup in the autumn of 2023. Defeats to the Dutch and away to Belgium proved costly.

That meant England were seeded second for the Euro 2025 qualifying draw and the Lionesses were handed the ‘group of death’ along with France, Sweden and the Republic of Ireland.

It looked rocky after drawing at home to Sweden and losing to France in Newcastle. But, ultimately, England did the business and beat France away, picked up two wins over Ireland, and drew in Sweden to secure qualification for next summer’s tournament.

By finishing runner-up to France, however, Sarina Wiegman’s side are in Pot 2 of this afternoon’s draw and could face one of the big-hitters in the group stages.

England’s record against the world’s best has been mixed of late. They were torn apart by Germany at Wembley in October and were second-best against the United States at the start of the month.

England’s results in 2024 under Sarina Wiegman

15:40 , Jamie Braidwood

The Lionesses played 12 official games in 2024, including their Euro 2025 qualifying campaign, and finished the year with seven wins, three draws and two defeats. The high point came in June’s win in France, which came just after a defeat to Les Bleues in Newcastle. The low point was the 4-3 defeat to Germany in late October.

W: England 7-2 Austria (friendly)

W: England 5-1 Italy (friendly)

D: England 1-1 Sweden (Euro qualifying)

W: Ireland 0-2 England (Euro qualifying)

L: England 1-2 France (Euro qualifying)

W: France 1-2 England (Euro qualifying)

W: England 2-1 Ireland (Euro qualifying)

D: Sweden 0-0 England (Euro qualifying)

L: England 3-4 Germany (friendly)

W: England 2-1 South Africa (friendly)

D: England 0-0 United States (friendly)

W: England 1-0 Switzerland (friendly)

Uefa not concerned by Club World Cup clash next summer

15:20 , Jamie Braidwood

Uefa are not concerned that some of next summer’s Euro 2025 will clash with the inaugural men’s Club World Cup in the United States.

The 32-team tournament featuring Manchester City, Chelsea and Real Madrid runs from June 15 to July 13.

While the Women’s Euro kicks off on July 2 and finishes with the final on July 27.

Some of the group stage will overlap with the knockout rounds of the Club World Cup, including the semi-finals final.

But Uefa’s head of women’s football Nadine Kessler is not concerned.

“There might be a clash of five to six matches, but overall, I can say I’m not really worried,” Kessler said.

“We are talking about tournaments on two different continents with different time zones. Yes, there might be a clash, but there’s also now a broadcast agreement in place which differs from ours. So again, I’m not worried.

“We also must stick to our plan, because I think it’s very important that we also get a professional, respected international calendar in place for women’s football, and that’s why we went ahead with our original tournament dates where it was, and continued our planning as originally desired.

“We have to co-exist, and I’m not too worried that there’s a negative impact because of the Club World Cup taking place in the States.”

Uefa chief admits Women’s Euros are outgrowing smaller countries

15:00 , Jamie Braidwood

The Women’s European Championships may be outgrowing smaller nations to the extent that Switzerland may be the last country of its size to host the tournament alone, Uefa Events chief executive Martin Kallen has said.

There are 700,000 tickets up for sale ahead of next summer’s Euro 2025 but the final will be played at St Jakob-Park, which has a capacity of under 40,000, while the smallest grounds host fewer than 10,000.

While Uefa are hoping for every match to be sold-out, there are some who say that the tournament could have been more ambitious.

“If you see where the Women’s Euro is going in the future, it becomes bigger and bigger,” Kallen said.

“I think this time it’s possible, (but) it’s already at the edge for Switzerland to be able to do this Euro.

“I think they went at the right moment to ask for it, because in the future I think the stadiums and the infrastructure in Switzerland is too small.”

Euro 2025 stadiums

14:40 , Jamie Braidwood

St. Jakob-Park, Basel (Euro 2025 capacity: 34,050)

  • Opening match, 2x GS, QF, Final

Stadion Wankdorf, Bern (29,650)

Stade de Genève, Geneva (28,150)

Stadion Letzigrund, Zurich (23,150)

Arena St.Gallen, St.Gallen (16,100)

Allmend Stadion Luzern, Lucerne (14,550)

Arena Thun, Thun (8,150)

Stade de Tourbillon, Sion (8,150)

St. Jakob-Park, home of FC Basel, will host the Euro 2025 final (Getty Images)St. Jakob-Park, home of FC Basel, will host the Euro 2025 final (Getty Images)

St. Jakob-Park, home of FC Basel, will host the Euro 2025 final (Getty Images)

Euro 2025: Why are England are Pot 2?

14:20 , Jamie Braidwood

England may be reigning European champions and Euro holders, but the Lionesses are in Pot 2 of this afternoon’s draw ahead of their tournament defence at Euro 2025.

Sarina Wiegman’s side will face either Switzerland or one of the best teams in the world in the group stage, with Spain, Germany and France all joining the hosts in Pot 1.

Switzerland are in Pot 1 as they are the host nation, with the remaining 15 teams seeded according to the final standings of the European qualifiers, which were held in a different format last season.

England were drawn in a tough qualifying group with France, Sweden and the Republic of Ireland and qualified automatically as group runners-up.

With France claiming top spot, that put England into Pot 2 of the Euro draw. Switzerland were joined by the top-three ranked group winners, which were Spain, Germany and France.

Wales are in Pot 4 because they qualified through the play-offs after finishing the qualifying phase ranked in 20th position.

 (The FA via Getty Images) (The FA via Getty Images)

(The FA via Getty Images)

Euro 2025 draw: Stars involved

14:07 , Jamie Braidwood

This afternoon’s draw will be hosted by former Arsenal and England legend Ian Wright along with Swiss presenter Annette Fetscherin.

It will feature several star players from various European countries, including England’s Jill Scott, Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri, France’s Raphael Varane, Italy’s Leonardo Bonucci and Germany’s Sami Khedira.

When is Euro 2025?

14:03 , Jamie Braidwood

The tournament kicks off on 2 July 2025, with the knockout stages getting underway from 16 July. The Euro 2025 final will be played on 27 July in Basel.

What are the Euro 2025 pots?

14:02 , Jamie Braidwood

Pot 1: Switzerland (hosts), Spain, Germany, France

Pot 2: Italy, Iceland, Denmark, England

Pot 3: Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Belgium

Pot 4: Finland, Poland, Portugal, Wales

When is the Euro 2025 qualifying draw?

14:01 , Jamie Braidwood

The Euro 2025 draw will take place today at 5pm BST, and the draw ceremony will be held in Lausanne, Switzerland. The 16 teams will be drawn into four groups of four. There will be a livestream on the Uefa website.

Good afternoon

14:00 , Jamie Braidwood

England will be out to defend their European title as the draw for Euro 2025 is made ahead of the tournament in Switzerland next summer.

The Lionesses won their first major honour on home soil when Sarina Wiegman’s team defeated Germany at Wembley in July 2022.

It was followed by a trip to the World Cup final in Australia the following year, but results have been mixed for the Lionesses since that run down under.

World champions Spain will be considered favourites ahead of England, France and a resurgent Germany side who beat the Lionesses at Wembley in October.

And England were joined by Wales who came through a play-off against the Republic of Ireland thanks to a 2-1 victory away from home in a historic result as they reached a major women’s tournament for the first time.

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