Long May They Reign: The Lionesses' story heading into Euro 2025

Three years ago, in the final of the Euros at Wembley, the image of Chloe Kelly’s iconic celebration transformed women’s football in England forever.

Shirt twirling above her head, Kelly had just scored the goal that would give the Lionesses their first major trophy, in front of more than 87,000 people at the national stadium.

Attendances quickly boomed in the Women’s Super League, while the number of young girls starting to play the game skyrocketed. A year on, that momentum continued as more history was made in Australia.

For the first time, England’s women’s team reached the World Cup final. Mary Earps’ penalty save wasn’t enough to help the Lionesses overcome Spain in Sydney, but once more, they’d broken new boundaries, achieving something they’d never done before.

Now, the Lionesses have the chance to make history once again.

No senior England team, female or male, has ever defended a major trophy. England’s men attempted it in the heat of Mexico at the 1970 World Cup, but fell short in the quarter-finals.

In Switzerland this summer, Sarina Wiegman has a squad capable of retaining the Euros.

England women's mixed fortunes since Down Under

As of early May, the Lionesses stood as second-favourites to win Euro 2025 – only behind Spain, their conquerors at the World Cup. Reaching the final Down Under further emphasised England’s status on the international stage, but performances and results have been inconsistent since.

Four months after the World Cup final, England’s underwhelming results in the 2023-24 Nations League meant that Great Britain’s women’s team failed to qualify for the Olympics. Away defeats to the Netherlands and Belgium did the damage, as the Dutch topped the four-team group. Needing a two-goal win at home to the Netherlands to pip them on the head-to-head record, a rare Earps mistake left them with a mountain to climb, and a 3-2 victory wasn’t quite enough despite a thrilling second-half comeback from 2-0 down.

England prevailed 2-1 in France during qualifying for Euro 2025, but four days earlier they’d lost at home to the same opposition – Les Bleues secured top spot in the group, with the Lionesses needing a tense 0-0 draw in their final match in Sweden to avoid the play-offs.

A poor performance followed in a 4-3 friendly loss to Germany at Wembley in October, although England then drew 0-0 with the USA, encouragingly gained revenge on Spain with a 1-0 home win at the start of the 2025 Nations League, and thrashed Belgium 5-0. In April’s reverse fixture, though, they surprisingly lost away to the Belgians for the second time in 18 months.

It’s been difficult to determine, then, exactly where the team are going into this tournament. Injuries have played their part in some of the more surprise results – when everyone is available, their collection of talent includes Kelly, Keira Walsh, Lauren James, Alessia Russo, Georgia Stanway, Lauren Hemp, Ella Toone, Fran Kirby and Euro 2022 player of the tournament Beth Mead. Quite the list.

Ex-Lioness Izzy Christiansen hasn’t been concerned about results, pointing out that several English players are now playing for the best clubs in Europe and regularly reaching the latter stages of the Champions League, increasing their workload. “It naturally comes with the other heights that are being achieved in domestic football,” Christiansen tells FFT. “Players have never been to these levels before, in terms of just how much football they’re required to play.

“Maybe there’s been a slight drop-off because they’ve suffered a bit of a shock to the system, or you naturally can’t maintain such a high level all the time. I hope England have had that moment, and they’re ready to start building in an upward direction again.”

They’ll have to hit the ground running in Switzerland – based at a hotel in Zurich for the Euros, they’ve been drawn into the Group of Death alongside the Dutch and France, two nations they’ve lost to since the World Cup. Tournament debutants Wales complete the quartet, with only two countries progressing to the knockout stage. It’s a tougher group than the Lionesses found themselves in at Euro 2022, when they faced Austria, Norway and Northern Ireland.

In Wiegman, though, they have a boss boasting a 100 per cent record over her only two Euros as a manager, with the Dutch in 2017 and England five years later. Twelve matches, 12 wins, 35 goals scored, only five conceded. This will be the first time she’s not been in charge of the home nation, but in her two other major tournaments as a coach, she reached the 2019 and 2023 World Cup finals. Not a bad record.

Jill Scott, part of the Lionesses squad that triumphed at Euro 2022, says it’s no coincidence that Wiegman delivers whenever major finals come around.

“She’s so good at keeping everybody calm,” the former midfielder tells FFT. “At the Euros, we were involved in the biggest tournament of our lives – for some people it was their first, for some it was their last, and with that comes immense pressure and expectation. She made it like any other game, though. The calmness within the squad was why the girls performed well. There’s nobody better than Sarina to lead this team.”

'It takes a while to understand the pressures'

One name sure to be in the starting XI when available is Alessia Russo. The striker linked up with Arsenal after the World Cup, having agreed a move from Manchester United, and has had a fine season for a Gunners side that reached the Champions League final for the first time since the competition’s rebrand in 2009.

Coming into her own after Renee Slegers replaced Jonas Eidevall as boss in October, she broke the record for the most goals scored by an Englishwoman in a Champions League campaign, no doubt benefiting from the coaching of Arsenal and Lionesses great Kelly Smith. Ellen White was Russo’s predecessor as England’s taliswoman, and can’t wait to see the 26-year-old leading the line in Switzerland.

“I knew she was special when she came into the England squad – I felt like she was next in line,” says the former striker, who retired straight after Euro 2022.

“Going to Arsenal has been great for her. Under Slegers, her game has been elevated. She’s had more opportunities to score, and working closer with Kelly Smith on the training pitch, you can see her movement. She’s more in the box, in scoring positions. She looks happy and confident, too.

“It takes a while to understand the pressures of being England’s No.9 – it’s a lot. You’re expected to score in every game, you’re expected to do something special, you’ve got to lead the line, press, everything. It maybe took a year or two and she was still young, she needed the experience and game time, but she’s cemented her spot now and has been scoring some great goals.

“It’s not just that, Alessia’s work ethic is phenomenal. You need to have that as a No.9 and she has it in abundance. I’m really excited to see what happens this summer, but I don’t want to put too much pressure on her. If she doesn’t score, that isn’t a bad thing. She can do so many other things in the game, it’s not just about scoring goals. I feel proud of her and excited for what can come in the future. Se has a lot of room to grow.”

Going into a tournament as defending champions will create pressure, but pundit Courtney Sweetman-Kirk thinks England will react to that positively. “Yes, there’s a target on their backs, but they’re used to that now,” says the former Everton and Liverpool forward.

“That’s been the case for every game since they won the Euros. Teams are looking to take a big scalp, and because of the transition that England have been in, it’s something they’ve struggled with at times, maybe. You have to adapt – you’re never getting an easy game, as everyone wants to beat the holders. It’s a pressure, but also a privilege. I think the girls see it that way. They relish it. They like the feeling of going into games, wanting to be the best and showing they can handle it.”

At a time when there’s been a slight feeling that the growth of the women’s game in England has started to plateau, following a surge of interest after 2022, another trophy triumph would serve as the perfect boost.

“When we won the Euros, it went on an incredible trajectory,” recalls White. “They reached the World Cup final, and we’ve had some amazing attendances at the main stadiums within the WSL and the Championship. But if they were to do something really special at these Euros, we could again push the message of equality, access, growing our game, people getting behind it, and giving an opportunity for young people to play.” Sweetman-Kirk agrees.

“Success brings another wave,” she explains. “Fresh eyes watching the game – and not just young girls, but young boys too. They’re always important as well. The demographics are changing. When I’m there at games, there are many more boys coming to watch as well as the girls, which is great to see. We’ve been seeing record crowds broken all the time, especially in the Champions League. That’s brilliant.

“This summer could help that grow even more. The further we go, the more eyes we get on the game. It’s essential that it keeps growing. I’m also very conscious of the pyramid – yes, the WSL is progressing, but we need to make sure that the Championship, the National League and grass roots can feed off that momentum as well.”

Winning the Euros this year won’t be easy, particularly while Spain are around. With the talent at their disposal, though, England are capable of beating anyone. “I see them getting to the final again – I’d love another Spain-England final,” says Sweetman-Kirk.

It would be another chance to make history. Defend their title this summer, and do what the men failed to in 1970, and Sarina Wiegman’s side can claim to be the most successful senior England team of all time.