England wins second consecutive UEFA Women’s Euro

New attendance, viewership records set in 2025 football tournament

Zafir Nagji, Sports Editor |

The world of women’s sports continues to grow, with leagues like the WNBA and PWHL bringing in more and more fans. The 2025 UEFA Women’s Euro in Switzerland followed suit, breaking attendance and viewership records for almost every game and delivering some of the most entertaining football games ever. Even though England continued their reign of dominance, winning their second Women’s Euro in a row, there were plenty of surprises throughout the tournament.

Having a field day

With stages set at eight stadiums in eight Swiss cities, the tournament began with the Group Stage matches, which took place from July 2-5. The 16 competing teams were drawn into four groups, and each team played one group stage match against every other squad in their group.

Apart from a few anomalous blowouts, such as Spain’s 5-0 triumph over Portugal and 6-2 victory against Belgium, many of these round-robin matches were tightly contested and produced incredible moments. Furthermore, the match officials allowed an increased degree of physical play, keeping their cards in their pockets and their whistles silent until absolutely necessary. With few whistles to interrupt matches, teams played with pace and competed more freely against each other, leading to some fearless tackles and dynamic two-way play.

By the end of the four-day Group Stage, eight teams advanced to the Knockout Stage. Norway and Switzerland represented Group A while Spain and Italy led the way for Group B. Sweden and Germany advanced from Group C while France and England, who are the two-time defending Euro champions, topped Group D.

Quarterfinal quarrels

Norway took on Italy to begin the Quarterfinals, and after a scoreless first 45 minutes, the two sides came alive early in the second half and traded a pair of goals. However, Italy’s Cristiana Girelli proved to be the difference-maker for her squad. The 35-year-old Juventus striker didn’t just open her team’s scoring tab in the 50th minute of the match – she closed the game with a 90th-minute header, sending Italy to the Semifinals with a 2-1 victory over their Nordic rivals.

Sweden entered their Quarterfinal against England swinging for the fences, with Kosovare Asllani scoring two minutes after the opening whistle. Emma Blackstenius followed suit and put the Swedes up 2-0 in the 25th minute, but her team would hold the lead for the rest of the first half. Sweden showed off their defensive chops in the second half, keeping England scoreless until the 79th minute. English right-back Lucia Bronze then cut the English team’s deficit in half and two minutes later, 19-year-old Arsenal forward Michelle Agyemang scored England’s second goal.

After playing with a lead for 79 minutes, Sweden found themselves heading into extra time in a 2-2 tie against the reigning Euro champions. Both teams pushed hard in the two 15-minute halves, but neither could find the back of the net, and after 30 minutes of extra time, the match headed into a penalty shootout. The teams still found themselves tied after the first five rounds, with each side scoring twice, but in the ensuing sudden-death rounds, Bronze came up clutch and scored on her team’s seventh shot to send England to the Semifinals.

Switzerland did more than just host the tournament as they qualified to play Spain in the Quarterfinals, but were eliminated via a 2-0 loss. Germany was shorthanded in their Quarterfinal match against France after numerous players were ruled out due to injuries and yellow-card suspensions sustained during the Group Stage. Their situation worsened even further when, 15 minutes into the match, Kathrin Hendrich earned a red card, leaving Germany to play the rest of the match with just 10 players. The Germans stood their ground and rallied behind her, and 10 minutes later, Sjoeke Nüsken tied the game at a goal apiece. Six cards were handed out through the match, but neither team found another goal in regulation nor in extra time. In the ensuing penalty shootout, Germany only missed one of their attempts, and in the second do-or-die round, Nüsken found the back of the net once again, bailing her team out and qualifying for the Semifinal round.

Seminal Semifinals

England were heavily favoured to win their Semifinal duel against Italy, but conceded the first goal of the game to Barbara Bonansea 33 minutes into the match. The 1-0 scoreline remained intact, and Italy looked like they were poised to pull off a preposterous upset until the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time. In the final moments of regulation, Agyemang buried a game-tying goal to force extra time. With less than a minute remaining in the second half of extra time, Chloe Kelly ripped the game-winning goal into the Italian net and brought her team a place in the Final.

Germany’s miraculous Quarterfinal victory over France lined them up for a Semifinal battle against Spain. Despite the incredible offensive firepower on both sides, neither team scored in the first 90 minutes of the match, necessitating extra time. Deep into the second half of extra time, both teams looked like they were preparing for a penalty shootout. That is, until Spain’s Aitana Bonmatí scored in the 113th minute, giving her team a late 1-0 lead. The Germans threw everything they had at their opposition, but couldn’t land a game-tying goal and conceded elimination as Spain booked their spot in the Final.

A fiery final

After 30 matches and 22 days of highly competitive football, the 2025 UEFA Women’s Euro Championship came down to a matchup between two titans. Both England and Spain had won all of their matches in the Group Stage and Knockout Stage to this point, but while England was the tournament’s defending champions, Spain had never won a Euro championship despite appearing in the tournament five times. Still, La Roja were a force to be reckoned with, scoring a tournament-best 14 goals in the Group Stage and holding the best goal differential at +11.

Both teams started the game aggressively, but disciplined, refusing to let the pressure get to them as they avoided any carded infractions. Mariona Caldentey broke the opening tie 25 minutes into the first half, and the Spaniards held their 1-0 lead until the end of the first half.

As the second half started, the English team shifted gears and Alessia Russo scored 12 minutes in to tie the game at a goal apiece.

Three yellow cards were handed out after the game-tying goal, all against England, but the two sides remained in a 1-1 deadlock for the rest of regulation and even through the high-octane extra time halves. The two sides, therefore, prepared for the third and most important penalty shootout of the tournament.

Beth Mead was first to shoot for England, but slipped on her first attempt. She was told to reattempt her penalty, but despite scoring on the disqualified first shot, Mead was stopped on her retry. Patri Guijarro capitalized on her team’s good fortune and put her penalty shot past the English keeper to give Spain a 1-0 advantage. Alex Greenwood scored England’s ensuing attempt, but Spain could not keep their lead as Mariona failed to score and headed into the third round of the penalty shootout in a 1-1 tie.

Niamh Charles marched to the penalty spot next for England and scored, but once again, Spain failed to respond, with Bonmati’s shot finding the keeper’s glove. Now holding a 2-1 advantage, Leah Williamson stepped up for England, only to be stopped by the Spanish keeper’s right glove. Spain needed one goal to tie and sent Salma Paralluelo for their fourth penalty attempt, but the forward missed the net on a bottom-right-corner shot.

That gave Kelly a chance to win the penalty shootout for England with a goal in the fifth round, and as one of the most acclaimed penalty-scorers in her national team’s history, the forward looked composed as she readied for her attempt. She skipped to the ball and launched a rocket into the top left corner of the net, adding yet another game-winner to her incredible resume and giving England their second UEFA Women’s Euro championship.

Auspicious awards

Spain’s Bonmati took home Player of the Tournament honours as she led her Spanish squad to the Final. Agyemang won Young Player of the Tournament after scoring two goals and established herself as a cornerstone for the English women’s national football team’s future.

The UEFA Team of the Tournament is as follows:

Goalkeeper

Hannah Hampton (England)

Defenders

Lucy Bronze (England)

Irene Paredes (Spain)

Elena Linari (Italy)

Franziska Kett (Germany)

Midfielders

Patri Guijarro (Spain)

Aitana Bonmatí (Spain)*

Alexia Putellas (Spain)

Forwards

Jule Brand (Germany)

Alessia Russo (England)

Chloe Kelly (England)

Setting new standards

Twenty-nine of the 31 matches played in this year’s Women’s Euro tournament were completely sold out, and 657,291 people attended the tournament in total, blowing the 2022 total of 574,875 attendees out of the water. Astonishingly, an estimated 65% of tickets (472,240) were sold to fans outside of Switzerland.

Those that didn’t attend the tournament helped set new broadcasting records in over 165 territories. According to UEFA, over 500 million viewers around the world tuned into the tournament, and 45 million watched the final match between England and Spain, both of which set new records.

In the United States of America, FOX nearly tripled their 2022 viewership numbers. In 2022, FOX’s average viewership during the group stage totalled 160,000, which rose to 308,000 in 2025. This year’s quarterfinals drew 776,000 American viewers, a huge increase from 283,000 in 2022, and the semifinals had over one million viewers, a 174 per cent increase compared to  2022.

The tournament also set a new sustainability standard. According to UEFA, 86 per cent of fans used sustainable transport methods (public transport, walking and biking), and 66 per cent used public transit, which was included for free with every match ticket.

Last(ing impact), but not least

The 2025 UEFA Women’s Euros drew in more viewers than any previous tournament and gave them an unforgettable show. More importantly, though, it showed its innumerable viewers that the women’s game is just as, if not more, impressive than the men’s game.

UEFA held their most recent Men’s Euro in 2024, and a total of 117 goals were scored in 51 matches for an average of 2.29 goals per match – there were also four scoreless draws in the Group Stage. This year’s women’s tournament had no scoreless draws and featured 106 goals in 31 games, an average of 3.42 goals per game. The 2025 UEFA Women’s Euros put the best scorers in the world on the biggest stages, and they shone all tournament long.

The level of physicality in this year’s tournament also reached a new height, with short turnaround times in between games and a loose whistle from the referees. The skill of the players was also on full display as teams orchestrated perfect passing plays, some of which ended in unforgettable goals in the clutchest of moments. Others were stopped by game-changing goalkeeping, something that England relied on to win their second consecutive tournament. With the world watching, the women of this year’s Euro showed that they were just as, if not more, capable of playing at the highest level of football in every sense of the game, from the ability to score to the ability to defend, and every ball-stopping tackle in between.

In a time when the world of women’s sports is fighting for the recognition it rightfully deserves, the 2025 UEFA Women’s Euro spoke loudly and clearly. New stars made names for themselves among the likes of the most well-established names in the history of the sport. Almost every sport in the world has a men’s and women’s division, but historically, men’s leagues have received almost all of the attention. The 2025 UEFA Women’s Euro joined the countless other women’s leagues across other sports around the world in shifting that narrative.