Italy Women's Euro 2022 group contains France, Iceland, and Belgium. Group D is probably the easiest group on paper so Italy will be hopeful of progressing from the group stage having exited at that point in 2017
Italy Women's Euro 2022 group: France
10th July
Italy begin their European Championships against France who will be looking to bounce back from a slightly disappointing home World Cup in 2019 where they exited at the quarter-final stage to eventual winners, the United States. The French national team has not been short of drama for the past couple of years, with manager Corinne Diacre publicly falling out with a number of her star players. For that reason, they will likely be without Lyon players Eugenie LeSommer and Amandine Henry.
However, there is still plenty of optimism around this talented crop of French players. The Paris St-Germain front three will be transposed into the national team with Sandy Baltimore, Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani likely to be a threat to any defence in the competition. Meanwhile left-back Selma Bacha was recently awarded the Champions League young player of the season award.
Italy Women's Euro 2022 group: Iceland
14th July
Italy’s second group game could be their most important as they face Iceland, a side who could be one of the dark horses of the competition. Despite being only ranked 18th in the world, they have had a range of impressive performances over the past few months. They came second at the SheBelieves Cup, losing only to the United States and they are also top of their World Cup Qualifying group, ahead of the Netherlands.
Their midfield is particularly strong, with Lyon’s Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir, West Ham’s Dagny Brynjarsdóttir and Orlando Pride’s Gunnhildur Yrsa Jónsdóttir all featuring. Meanwhile, people will be keeping an eye on the highly talented 20 year old Wolfsburg attacker Sveindis Jane Jónsdottir, who impressed in the latter stages of the Champions League this season.
Italy Women's Euro 2022 group: Belgium
18th July
The Red Flames are featuring at their second ever European Championships, having qualified for the first time in 2017. Whilst they exited at the group stage then, a 2-0 win over Norway showed they were no pushovers. They are however probably the weakest team in Group D.
Janice Cayman is probably Belgium’s most high profile player, now plying her trade at Lyon, as well as being their highest capped player. They will also have former Manchester City striker, Tessa Wullaert who with 65 goals in 106 games is their all-time top scorer.
