Key events
Spain top the Euro 2025 power rankings following the group stage…
As we continue the countdown to kick-off, I want to hear from you! Be sure to email me with any score predictions or thoughts on tonight’s match. Who will progress to the semi-finals? Which team should Sarina Wiegman go for? Should the England manager change anything? Let me know!
Zach Neeley has messaged in to say:
“My family is visiting London next week, getting there just before the semis. So I need England to win, would love to be in town with the atmosphere. I promise to buy my girls team shirts if they beat Sweden!”
Today’s match officials:
Referee: Marta Huerta De Aza
Assistant referees: Guadalupe Porras Ayuso, Eliana Fernández González
Fourth official: Frida Klarlund
VAR: Guillermo Cuadra Fernandez
Assistant VAR: Dennis Higler, Christian Dingert
Former England star Demi Stokes, who won the European Championship with the Lionesses in 2022, has arrived at the fan zone in Zurich.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s match, Sweden manager Peter Gerhardsson said: “Both we and England are better now than we were in 2022. I hope we can show it here because last time we couldn’t show our potential. I hope it’s a good game and I hope we win.”
England right-back Lucy Bronze also gave an explanation about what the term ‘Proper England’ means to her and her team-mates: “We’ve never negated the tactics or anything else that comes with the game with the term ‘Proper England’ – I think it’s more the fact that we’re a new England and a new team.
“What was meant by that is that we’ve got a lot of younger players and new players who have very different experiences of playing for England compared to the likes of myself where England had to dig deep all the time. 2015 was the first year we beat Germany which is insane to think of right now, but England in the past, you had to dig out performances, you were the underdogs, you weren’t the favourites.
“Whereas this England team has developed, football has changed. Obviously we’re a very talented team, a lot of technical ability, tactics, all that comes in the game, but we don’t want to ever forget, we are England, we are proper England and if push comes to shove we can win a game in any means possible.”
Switzerland face Spain tomorrow night in Bern. Regardless of the result, women’s football has already experienced major growth throughout the host country.
During her press conference yesterday, England manager Sarina Wiegman said: “I expect a very competitive game where it’s very hard to predict the outcome. Of course, they had a very good group stage with the three wins they had. But I think we are in a very good place too and we’re ready to go so hopefully we can show that tomorrow.”
Discussing her take on what ‘Proper England’ means, she added: “It’s who we are and what we want to show, and, of course, it’s got to do with our tactics and how we want to play. But also our behaviours, how we want to support each other together, work really hard and play to our strengths too. When we do that the chance of winning is the highest.”
Thanks John. Right, shall we hear from Sarina Wiegman?
John Brewin
With that, I pass back to Emillia.
England and Sweden’s past three meetings, by Nasra Abdi
England v Sweden: past three meetings
England 4-0 Sweden, 26 July 2022, Sheffield
“One of the best goals you will ever see,” the former England defender Stephen Warnock said – and few disagreed. Alessia Russo’s audacious backheel nutmeg sealed England’s third in style, a goal of the tournament winner from the bench. The Euro 2022 semi-final against Sweden played out like a dream: Beth Mead opened the scoring, Lucy Bronze powered in a header, and Fran Kirby’s clever lob capped it off. Four goals, four statements. The Lionesses were ruthless. Sweden simply had no reply.
England 1-1 Sweden, 5 April 2024, London
Sweden looked nothing like the side torn apart at Euro 2022. In a closely contested qualifier, they held firm against an England team dominant in possession but short on chances. Alessia Russo, once again in imperious form, broke through with a striker’s dream – a one-on-one calmly slotted home. Both sides grew bolder as the game wore on. A moment’s lapse from the Lionesses and Fridolina Rolfö punished them with an electric equaliser – well-earned.
Sweden 0-0 England, 16 July 2024, Gothenburg
It may have ended goalless but England got what they came for. A draw in Gothenburg sealed their place at Euro 2025. “Keeping it to 0-0, qualifying from a very hard group – I’m very relieved,” the head coach, Sarina Wiegman, said. The Lionesses impressed early but faded, relying on the goalkeeper Hannah Hampton to keep their clean sheet. Georgia Stanway came closest to scoring with a strike from distance. Sweden, backed by a lively home crowd, failed to capitalise on the buzz.
The men’s game: fair to say the Ekitike situation is a “transfer tug of war”. He’s already a well-travelled young man.
Some reaction to Norway’s highly dramatic exit on Wednesday, a game where Italy rode their luck but took advantage of their opponents’ shortcomings.
Coach Gemma Grainger spoke to Reuters: “I want them (the players) to remember what we did here – we’re obviously very disappointed right now, but this group of players showed that we’re together.
“We wanted to come here and have a successful tournament, and that meant, as a group of players and staff, that we showed everyone who we are, and I believe we did that. We’re getting better, we’re improving, and we have to take some time to look at what we need to get better at, and then we have to focus on the qualification for the World Cup.”
Goalkeeper Cecilie Fiskerstrand: “Playing a competition like this for Norway is an extreme privilege, and I’m really happy and grateful and proud to be a part of this team. We have worked really hard, and we have given it our all in every game, so really thankful and proud to be a part of it, and we wanted more today, but that’s how football is sometimes.”
Right, I’m off for a break now so the wonderful John Brewin will be keeping you company for the next hour.
You can keep up to date with the race for the Euro 2025 Golden Boot here:
Kosovare Asllani also said: “The English team has a lot of talent and we respect them a lot but we also have a game-plan that we have been working towards. The most important thing is to be humble and analyse them and hopefully we can get our game-plan through tomorrow.”
Ahead of today’s match, Sweden captain Kosovare Asllani said: “England have a way of playing that we’re used to because we’ve played against each other twice in the past few years.
“They have a large number of incredibly skilled players that we need to keep an eye on. We’ve analysed them thoroughly and once the game starts we will be ready.”
The latest edition of our Moving the Goalposts newsletter has just dropped. You can go and give it a read if you fancy – or even better, subscribe!
Lucy Bronze believes every player at the European Championship feels a greater pressure to perform because of the boost women’s football receives as a result of success.
Be sure to click here to recap all of the Euro 2025 results so far, as well as the final group standings.
“For a nation with a population of 10 million, with a men’s national side that failed to quality for three of the past four World Cups, Sweden have a track record in women’s football that belongs to a sporting superpower…”
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As we prepare for this evening’s match, I thought it would be good to quickly look back at the Euro 2022 semi-final meeting between Sweden and England, where Alessia Russo scored THAT goal.
England are expected to have a full squad available tonight. Jess Park missed training yesterday due to a migraine but Sarina Wiegman insisted that she will be fine to feature this evening.
We are lucky enough to have Emma Hayes on board as a columnist this month. Here is what she had to say about tonight’s quarter-final clash between Sweden and England in her latest column…
Chloe Kelly also revealed the meaning behind the ‘clicking’ celebration used by Aggie Beever-Jones and Beth Mead during England’s 6-1 win over Wales on Sunday. Both forwards, along with Kelly, were seen running over to the bench while clicking their fingers after scoring.
Kelly explained: “t’s great. We have a little group of us, the finishers, the positive clique [pronounced click by Kelly] we call it. We said if one of us comes on to score then we should do that as our celebration.
“We work really hard on the training pitch, in the gym, making sure we’re prepared when we go on to the pitch and we have a great group of girls so it’s about enjoying the whole experience as a group.”
England stars Chloe Kelly and Leah Williamson previewed tonight’s meeting with Sweden earlier this week.
Kelly said: “They are a team we definitely respect as England. They are maybe a team that does go under the radar but the consistency they have shown is impressive. They have so much talent. We have done our homework.”
Meanwhile, captain Williamson said: “When you have a team who work for each other like Sweden, then you don’t need to necessarily have a crazy standout threat because everyone plays their roles. They are hard to prepare for in that sense. The discipline for them all to complete their jobs on the pitch makes them a dangerous side.”
Jonathan Liew
“Sweden’s reliability has made them a tournament team to be respected. But by the same token England’s unpredictability has made them a tournament team to be feared. In 2022 and again in 2023, they exhibited an expert ability to focus their efforts where they would be most needed, the ability to do just enough to win. There are goals coming from all areas of the pitch. This may just be the worst time to play them…”
As I briefly mentioned earlier, Italy will face the winner of tonight’s match between Sweden and England next Tuesday.
On that note, let’s look ahead to the 8pm BST kick-off…
It would probably be fair to say that last night was another missed opportunity for Norway, a team with so much potential and, on paper, one of the most impressive squads at Euro 2025.
Norway never really looked convincing in the group stage, despite racking up a maximum nine points. They won each match by a one-goal margin and with performances that didn’t match up to the standard you’d expect from a team with the likes of Caroline Graham Hansen, Guro Reiten, Ada Hegerberg and Frida Maanum.
In case you missed it, Italy stunned Norway last night to reach their first major women’s tournament semi-final in 28 years. The Italians took the lead through Cristiana Girelli just five minutes into the second half. Ada Hegerberg then missed a penalty for Norway, blasting her effort wide. However, she quickly bounced back to equalise.
As the clock approached the 90-minute mark, the match looked as though extra time would be needed. However, Girelli struck again, this time with a headed effort at the back post from a Sofia Cantore cross.
Euro 2025 quarter-finals:
Norway 1-2 Italy
Sweden v England
Spain v Switzerland
France v Germany
More on Olivia Smith’s move to Arsenal:
Upon her arrival at Arsenal, Olivia Smith said: “It’s a privilege and an honour to sign for Arsenal. It’s my dream to compete for the biggest titles here in England and in Europe and I’m excited to get started and contribute to doing that here with Arsenal. The atmosphere the supporters create at Emirates Stadium is incredible and I can’t wait to have that behind me now.”
Head coach Renée Slegers said: “Olivia is an exciting young player and we believe she can make a big contribution here at Arsenal. We’ve been impressed by her mentality and character, excelling in two European leagues at such a young age. I know she has a level of ambition that matches our own and we’re looking forward to working with her as she continues to grow at the club.”
Smith will wear the No15 shirt for the Gunners.
Arsenal sign Olivia Smith for world-record fee
Arsenal have confirmed the signing of Olivia Smith for a world-record £1million fee. The 20-year-old has penned a four-year deal with the European champions.
Preamble
Hello, good morning and welcome to another Euro 2025 Matchday live! Italy said ‘ciao’ to Norway last night after booking a place in the semi-finals with a 2-1 win. They will face either Sweden or England in the final four next Tuesday.
Speaking of, those two teams go head-to-head tonight in what is set to be a closely contested clash. I’ll be counting down to kick-off all day, bringing you the latest news from Switzerland.
Join me!
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