Here’s Tom Garry on what the Lionesses’ weaknesses, and what they can do to improve.
Women’s Euro 2025: England v Italy, semi-final news and buildup – live | Women’s Euro 2025
Published: 2025-07-22 13:26:58 | Views: 13
Key events
An email from David Ashley, in relation to Tom’s earlier post.
“Just to let you know that for a lot of Italian fans it’s not just a short hop across the border. In fact Geneva has an enormous Italian population and don’t forget that Italian is also one of the four official Swiss languages. You’ll hear Italian spoken pretty extensively throughout the country.”
Away from Euro 2025, we learned yesterday that England international Nikita Parris, omitted from Sarina Wiegman’s tournament squad, is poised to join London City Lionesses at the expiry of her Brighton contract. The south-coast club ended the season in fifth place in the Women’s Super League, and head coach Dario Vidosic said of Parris:
Nikita has played a vital role in helping us achieve our highest-ever WSL finish. Her professionalism, both on and off the pitch, has been outstanding, and her experience has been hugely influential within the squad - especially in guiding some of our younger players. Her goals and tactical awareness have offered consistency and leadership in the final third. We’re truly grateful to have had the opportunity to work with her last season and wish her nothing but the best in the next stage of her career.”
Hello everyone! Just over seven nerve-racking hours to go until kick-off. How will you be watching tonight’s game? Answers on a postcard to michael.butler@theguardian.com
To those in Geneva, we are all very jealous. With Sunday’s final in Basel, this is the final game at the Stade de Genève. Here’s a bit more info on the ground, courtesy of our pre-tournament stadium guide.
Capacity: 29,800
Opened: April 2003
Home team: ServetteGeneva trivia: Most of the drinking water (80%) in the city is extracted from the lake and no electricity is used from nuclear reactors or fossil fuels.
Unusually, the Stade de Genève’s sole owner is not a club, or a obscure billionaire, but a private foundation, acting alongside support from the state of Geneva. The Fondation du Stade de Genève acted as the project manager for the stadium’s construction and inauguration in 2003 and runs the stadium to this day. “Above all, it is a stadium of the Genevans,” claims the foundation, which means anyone can hire it, from a conference room to a “VIP corridor” to the entire pitch, assuming you are willing to pay enough Swiss francs.
Right, time for me to hand over now to Michael Butler, who’ll talk you through the afternoon as the anticipation builds. Enjoy the rest of your day, and this evening’s game. Bye.
Long-forgotten Swedish popsters Ace of Base get a mention in David Squires’s latest cartoon, which picks over those dramatic quarter-finals
Premier League clubs could follow the England Lionesses in stopping taking the knee next season amid growing division among anti-racism campaigners over the merits of the symbolic gesture, Matt Hughes reports.
The Premier League is planning to consult with club captains before the start of the campaign and will then take a decision based on the feedback provided in the annual pre-season meeting.
Kick It Out released a statement backing England Lionesses’ decision to stop taking the knee at the European Championship as a result of the racist abuse directed at Jess Carter, but international anti-discrimination group Fare still regard it as a powerful symbol. The Professional Footballers’ Association is also understood to be supporting England’s players.
The streets of Geneva are already beginning to throng with England fans, who are planning a pre-match march from the city’s central fan zone to a pub near the stadium, from about 5pm if you’re in the vicinity. They could be outnumbered overall by Italy fans, for whom this is a simple hop across the border. And the third most prominent shirt on the streets? Arsenal, reflecting both the club’s strong representation in the Lionesses’ squad and the most strongly developed women’s fan culture in England.
Brighton have confirmed the departure of Nikita Parris, with the Bromley-based project London Lionesses set to be her next destination, as Suzy reported yesterday.
Claudio Pina’s goal for Spain v Switzerland has been voted goal of the quarter-finals, the official Euro 2023 feed tells us, though I reckon odds should be shouted for Girelli’s brilliantly directed header and the Bonmatí backheel for Spain’s first.
Songs from the big chair: it’s getting busy in Geneva …
Everton sign Pacheco from Villa. Some WSL transfer news, courtesy of PA Media, which reports that Everton have snapped up the Philippines international full-back Maz Pacheco following the expiry of her contract at Aston Villa. The Ormskirk-born 26-year-old is manager Brian Sorensen’s eighth summer signing and joins the club as they prepare for their first full season of football at Goodison Park.
Pacheco, who attended games at Goodison as a youngster, said: “It is amazing to join Everton. To be at such a historic club is an unbelievable feeling. I wanted to stay in the WSL and give it my all.”
Grace Clinton was one of England’s spot-kick missers against Sweden but she’s undeterred from taking another should another shootout arise. “That was my first penalty in a shootout and it’s just motivated me to do it again,” the Manchester United midfielder told Sky’s Lionesses podcast. “It was such an amazing experience as a team to go through – the ups and downs have made me believe in every single person. Squads like these don’t last for ever so we just want to … what’s the phrase, take it with both hands? … grab it with both hands.”
ITV is to be rewarded for its punt on prioritising an England semi-final among its live picks, with 8m expected to tune in tonight. The broadcaster ceded three quarter-finals to the BBC with the proviso that it got first dibs on any England semi, as if that was ever in doubr.
ITV is poised to surge ahead of the BBC in the European Championship ratings battle, with an audience of more than 8 million people expected to watch England’s semi-final against Italy on Tuesday night.
Some sad news from the men’s game: the former Wales, Liverpool and Wrexham defender Joey Jones has died aged 70. I can recall watching him in the fourth tier for Wrexham, back in a time when top-flight players would work their way down the leagues again in late-career, and he was a proper, formidable competitor. RIP.
Out in sun-kissed Geneva, the Football Supporters Association’s Deborah Dilworth has been talking to Sky in front of a big crowd of fellow England fans about the fine work the FSA has long done in helping travelling supporters negotiate their way round tournaments. And the mood is still firmly confident in England and their manager. “It’s still
‘in Sarina we trust, totally,” she says. “She’s one of the most prolific winners in the game, she got the job done [against Sweden], the substitutes came on at the right time, knew the gameplan and knew what they had too do.
“They’ve had a variety of different tests, which is testament to how the whole of women’s football has improved so that’s something to celebrate. The ‘never give up’ attitide is the attitude we want the supporters to have. The whols squad is important in terms of vibes, everyone has an impact everyonee knows their roles and accepts it.”
Sport England chair Boardman complains to Ofcom about abuse
Chris Boardman, the chair of Sport England, has written an open letter to Ofcom urging it to use its powers to end the abuse of Lionesses and female athletes online.
In the letter, he writes:
“The abuse faced by these athletes not only causes personal harm but also sends a damaging message to the next generation of girls who aspire to follow in their footsteps. Research on behalf of our This Girl Can campaign has shown a fear of judgment is a huge barrier to women being active, and abuse of our elite athletes online only increases reservations amongst those taking part at a community level …
“We also believe that Ofcom has a vital role to play. The Online Safety Act 2023 provides a framework to address illegal and harmful content, including hate speech and misogynistic abuse. We note that Ofcom has now published its initial Codes of Practice, including those relating to illegal harms and the protection of children. These codes place legal duties on in-scope services to assess risks and take proportionate steps to mitigate them.”
When we all get round to compiling our teams of the tournament, Cristiana Girelli should figure in the conversation. The seasoned Juventus striker is having a well-deserved Indian summer, having seen the Italian women’s game develop around her during her career. Sophie Downey profiles her here:
Girelli has played her entire career in Italy, bridging the gap from amateur to full-time, with Serie A Femminile going fully professional in 2022. She has spent seven seasons with Juventus and finished the last campaign as the league’s top scorer with 19 goals that propelled Le Bianconere to their first title in three years.
Some pre-match reading to get you’se in the mood, starting with Nick Ames’s scene-setter:
In practice nothing comes easily at this stage. It has been tempting to bill this assignment as an inconvenience before an inevitable appearance in the final on Sunday. England negotiated a fiendish group that included France and the Netherlands, their performances mixed, and it felt significant that they overcame a fine Sweden side. Italy are surprise contenders who benefited from appearing in the easier half of the draw. From the outside, it seems England have done the hard part.
There is a different feeling inside the camp. “I think it would be really disrespectful to Italy to think we’re favourites,” Wiegman said. “They made the semi-final just like we did and that’s very impressive for any team. Complacency is the biggest mistake you can make. We will have to be at our very, very best to win.”
While Suzanne Wrack reports from the pre-match presser, where Sarina Wiegman spoke of England’s readiness for the challenge and of the “character” shown by Jess Carter following the hideous racist abuse she received after the Sweden match:
Although it is a hard situation, Jess is a very strong person and she wants to move on, too. She also felt – as we did – that we had to address this. You can’t just let it go, so we did not.
“Then we know that there’s a match going on: we want to perform, we’re ready to perform, she’s ready to perform and compete, and that says a lot about her and the team.”
Preamble
Time was when an England semi-final would be a standalone Event, a relative rarity, something to force a nation to sit up. Now, it feels utterly routine, across both the men’s and particularly the women’s teams. So today we count down to the Lionesses’ sixth consecutive major tournament semi, though the manner of their progress has been lacking in serenity and over-full of drama. Let’s face it, England were not the better team in their quarter-final against Sweden – just as they weren’t in their opener against France – but their resilience, belief and strength off the bench proved crucial and here we are.
They’re up against an Italian side who have probably exceeded expectations this summer and have certainly been good to watch. Excellent and deserving winners against a star-studded Norway last week, they’ve also given Spain their toughest game so far. Talking of the world champions, we’ll also be keeping an eye on the buildup to their semi-final tomorrow against Germany, another side who like England have progressed through digging in and shootout-related pandemonium.
So stick around, send us your thoughts, predictions and offbeat tactical insights.
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