Euro 2025 draw LIVE: England and Wales learn opponents as groups drawn
The Lionesses are defending champions but will be in Pot 2 ahead of the Euro 2025 draw in Switzerland
The Euro 2025 draw takes place as defending champions England and first-time qualifiers Wales discover their group stage opponents ahead of next summer’s tournament in Switzerland.
The Lionesses claimed home glory at Wembley at Euro 2022 as they defeated Germany to lift their first major honour. But a mixed year of results means Sarina Wiegman’s side find themselves in Pot 2 of the Euro 2025 draw, with Spain, France and Germany all potential opponents, along with hosts Switzerland.
Wales secured a historic place at the Euro 2025 finals as they defeated the Republic of Ireland in a play-off to reach a major tournament for the first time. The debutants will be in Pot 4, with the draw determining the four groups of four teams as well as the path through to the quarter-finals, semi-finals and Euro 2025 final.
The tournament itself kicks off on July 2 with hosts Switzerland opening the Championships. Follow the Euro 2025 draw below as England and Wales learn their group stage opponents
Schedule for Euro 2025 matches
Group stage matchday one: 2–5 July
Group stage matchday two: 6–9 July
Group stage matchday three: 10–13 July
Quarter-finals: 16–19 July
Semi-finals: 22–23 July
Final: 27 July
How are England shaping up ahead of Euro 2025?
After winning the Euros in 2022 and reaching the Women’s World Cup final in 2023, the Lionesses have had a mixed spell in terms of results that has led to their position in Pot 2 of qualifying for Euro 2025.
First, England finished second to the Netherlands in the inaugural Women’s Nations League campaign, which followed the World Cup in the autumn of 2023. Defeats to the Dutch and away to Belgium proved costly.
That meant England were seeded second for the Euro 2025 qualifying draw and the Lionesses were handed the ‘group of death’ along with France, Sweden and the Republic of Ireland.
It looked rocky after drawing at home to Sweden and losing to France in Newcastle. But, ultimately, England did the business and beat France away, picked up two wins over Ireland, and drew in Sweden to secure qualification for next summer’s tournament.
By finishing runner-up to France, however, Sarina Wiegman’s side are in Pot 2 of this afternoon’s draw and could face one of the big-hitters in the group stages.
England’s record against the world’s best has been mixed of late. They were torn apart by Germany at Wembley in October and were second-best against the United States at the start of the month.
England’s results in 2024 under Sarina Wiegman
The Lionesses played 12 official games in 2024, including their Euro 2025 qualifying campaign, and finished the year with seven wins, three draws and two defeats. The high point came in June’s win in France, which came just after a defeat to Les Bleues in Newcastle. The low point was the 4-3 defeat to Germany in late October.
W: England 7-2 Austria (friendly)
W: England 5-1 Italy (friendly)
D: England 1-1 Sweden (Euro qualifying)
W: Ireland 0-2 England (Euro qualifying)
L: England 1-2 France (Euro qualifying)
W: France 1-2 England (Euro qualifying)
W: England 2-1 Ireland (Euro qualifying)
D: Sweden 0-0 England (Euro qualifying)
L: England 3-4 Germany (friendly)
W: England 2-1 South Africa (friendly)
D: England 0-0 United States (friendly)
W: England 1-0 Switzerland (friendly)
Uefa not concerned by Club World Cup clash next summer
Uefa are not concerned that some of next summer’s Euro 2025 will clash with the inaugural men’s Club World Cup in the United States.
The 32-team tournament featuring Manchester City, Chelsea and Real Madrid runs from June 15 to July 13.
While the Women’s Euro kicks off on July 2 and finishes with the final on July 27.
Some of the group stage will overlap with the knockout rounds of the Club World Cup, including the semi-finals final.
But Uefa’s head of women’s football Nadine Kessler is not concerned.
“There might be a clash of five to six matches, but overall, I can say I’m not really worried," Kessler said.
“We are talking about tournaments on two different continents with different time zones. Yes, there might be a clash, but there’s also now a broadcast agreement in place which differs from ours. So again, I’m not worried.
“We also must stick to our plan, because I think it’s very important that we also get a professional, respected international calendar in place for women’s football, and that’s why we went ahead with our original tournament dates where it was, and continued our planning as originally desired.
“We have to co-exist, and I’m not too worried that there’s a negative impact because of the Club World Cup taking place in the States.”
Uefa chief admits Women’s Euros are outgrowing smaller countries
The Women’s European Championships may be outgrowing smaller nations to the extent that Switzerland may be the last country of its size to host the tournament alone, Uefa Events chief executive Martin Kallen has said.
There are 700,000 tickets up for sale ahead of next summer’s Euro 2025 but the final will be played at St Jakob-Park, which has a capacity of under 40,000, while the smallest grounds host fewer than 10,000.
While Uefa are hoping for every match to be sold-out, there are some who say that the tournament could have been more ambitious.
“If you see where the Women’s Euro is going in the future, it becomes bigger and bigger,” Kallen said.
“I think this time it’s possible, (but) it’s already at the edge for Switzerland to be able to do this Euro.
“I think they went at the right moment to ask for it, because in the future I think the stadiums and the infrastructure in Switzerland is too small.”
Euro 2025 stadiums
St. Jakob-Park, Basel (Euro 2025 capacity: 34,050)
- Opening match, 2x GS, QF, Final
Stadion Wankdorf, Bern (29,650)
- 3xGS, QF
Stade de Genève, Geneva (28,150)
- 3xGS, QF, SF
Stadion Letzigrund, Zurich (23,150)
- 3xGS, QF and SF
Arena St.Gallen, St.Gallen (16,100)
- 3xGS
Allmend Stadion Luzern, Lucerne (14,550)
- 3xGS
Arena Thun, Thun (8,150)
- 3xGS
Stade de Tourbillon, Sion (8,150)
- 3xGS
Euro 2025: Why are England are Pot 2?
England may be reigning European champions and Euro holders, but the Lionesses are in Pot 2 of this afternoon’s draw ahead of their tournament defence at Euro 2025.
Sarina Wiegman’s side will face either Switzerland or one of the best teams in the world in the group stage, with Spain, Germany and France all joining the hosts in Pot 1.
Switzerland are in Pot 1 as they are the host nation, with the remaining 15 teams seeded according to the final standings of the European qualifiers, which were held in a different format last season.
England were drawn in a tough qualifying group with France, Sweden and the Republic of Ireland and qualified automatically as group runners-up.
With France claiming top spot, that put England into Pot 2 of the Euro draw. Switzerland were joined by the top-three ranked group winners, which were Spain, Germany and France.
Wales are in Pot 4 because they qualified through the play-offs after finishing the qualifying phase ranked in 20th position.
Euro 2025 draw: Stars involved
This afternoon’s draw will be hosted by former Arsenal and England legend Ian Wright along with Swiss presenter Annette Fetscherin.
It will feature several star players from various European countries, including England’s Jill Scott, Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri, France’s Raphael Varane, Italy’s Leonardo Bonucci and Germany’s Sami Khedira.
When is Euro 2025?
The tournament kicks off on 2 July 2025, with the knockout stages getting underway from 16 July. The Euro 2025 final will be played on 27 July in Basel.
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