The UEFA European Women’s Championship are on their way, starting out with the group stages. In group A there is Norway, who leads their group before the last game with six points. Followed by Switzerland, Finland, and Iceland. It would be a delight for the host country, Switzerland, to make it out of the group stages.

In group B, Spain has runaway with the lead with 6 points and 9 in goal differentials to sit at the top of their group standings. Esther Gonzalez has been a stand out in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and carried it over with her to the UEFA European Women’s Championship with ease. Gonzalez has scored a brace in the game versus Portugal and scored another goal in their game versus Belgium in the UEFA European Women’s Championship. Rounding out group B is Italy, who is in second in the group and looking to make it out of the group stages for the first time in over ten years.

Group C of the UEFA European Women’s Championship sees Sweden leading with one goal over Germany, followed by Demark and Poland with no points. Group D features France in first place for their group, followed by England and then the Netherlands and Wales. 

This is the first international competition for Wales, who also scored the first international competition goal against France. The historic goal was scored by Welsh soccer veteran and Seattle Reign star, Jess Fishlock. Fishlock also has become the oldest player to score at the UEFA European Women’s Championship. France dominated this game, winning 4-1, but it was an exciting time for the Welsh national team. Fishlock praised their travelling fans, called the Red Wall.

“They were loud and proud…we have the best fans in the world.”

The manager for the Welsh national team, Rhian Wilkinson, had this to say regarding the match; “I truly believe France are one of the top three teams in the world. Yes, we lost 4-1 but we showed up and were courageous against one of the world’s best teams. It’s not always about the result. It’s fine margins but we’ve shown everyone how proud we are to represent Wales.” 

Bumpy roads have crossed many teams paths, including the reigning champions from the previous UEFA European Women’s Championship…England. England is the first reigning champion to have lost their first group game, losing 2-1 against France in their opening match. England rallied against the Netherlands to win 4-0 over the strong and masterful Dutch. They face off in their final match against Wales for the final group stage match and are favored to win. 

England was in ‘must-win’ territory after their loss to France. Sarina Wiegman, the coach for the English National Team, won all 12 of her European Championship matches as a manager that led the Dutch team to a Euro win in 2017 and England to Euro championship in 2022. But Wiegman didn’t take the loss without learning key strategies from it, as shown by the victory England had over the Netherlands. A core reason England was successful is also returned from injury player Lauren James who scored a brace against the Netherlands before being subbed out for the second half. James spoke after the game about every gane is a new game.

"I enjoyed it a lot, the goals say it all."

"We bounced back from the previous game and showed we were more than capable [of] showing the world what we can do."

After their win against the Netherlands, Wiegman had this to say:

"How we came together, how we played down the pitch and of course I'm very happy with the score because that's a massive help because goal difference can make the difference,"

"Also the days into this game, how we looked at each other's eyes and said, 'OK what do we do?', and execution of the game plan. I think that really helped." 

“I'm very happy with the performance, we bounced back really well from France."

"How the team responded today was really good."

Who is closing in on the quarter finals for the UEFA European Women’s Championship?

The group stage winds down now with final matches of the stage approaching. The top two teams from each group will be moving forward to the quarterfinal knock out rounds of the tournament. Based on the numbers, we will likely see the following teams move on from the group stage:

1. Norway
2. Switzerland
3. Spain
4. Italy
5. Sweden
6. Germany
7. France 
8. England

Certainly the reigning champions England will have an uphill battle if they make it to the quarterfinals. My pick for team to watch is Spain, who have scored the most goals in the group stages than any of the other teams. Certainly Spain seems to be in a flow of performance, but how will they face up against teams like Germany or France or England? Will Italy make it to the knock out rounds for the first time since 2013 or will they fall?

The next stage will see Norway face the Runner up of Group B (likely to be Italy) on July 16th. July 17th will see the Winner of Group C (likely Sweden) face the Runner up of Group D (likely England). July 18th will see the Winner of Group B (Spain) face the Runner up of Group A (likely Switzerland). July 19th will see the Winner of Group D (France) face the Runner up of Group C (Germany). 

How will France and Germany fare? Will England continue their hot streak facing Sweden to secure their championship goals and earn a repeat? Will Spain steam roll Switzerland? It is hard to pick favorites at this stage, since there are still final matches of the group stages to complete, but it certainly is interesting to see who the quarterfinals will likely whittle down to contain. 

The finals are on Sunday, July 27th 2025. You can watch the UEFA European Women’s Championship in the United States on FOX Sports. If you are watching from the United Kingdom, you can watch on BBC1, BBC2, BBC iPlayer, and ITV. Check here for your country and find where you can watch the UEFA European Women’s Championship.