England Women’s manager, Sarina Wiegman feels that her team has a “tough” Qualifying group for their UEFA Women’s Euros title defence.
Despite being reigning champions after having won the title on home soil in 2022 with victory over Germany in the Final, England have been drawn into the Qualifying ‘group of death’ for UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 where France, Sweden and Republic of Ireland await.
“It’s a tough draw but it is a really exciting draw,” commented Wiegman upon discovering England’s nightmare group, where only the top two teams will automatically qualify whilst those who finish third and fourth will head into the play-offs.
Wiegman though is optimistic given that she was wary of the prospect of having Sweden in their group, as she explained: “Of course, we all went into the draw knowing that Sweden – one of the top countries – would be in Pot 3 because of their Nations League performance in 2023 so with France, Sweden, and Ireland in our group, it will be very competitive.
“It’s exciting and now we just have to show up and perform. For the fans and for football, it is really good because it will be so competitive.”
On facing Sweden who England beat at 2022 Women’s Euro semi-finals, Wiegman iterated that they can’t be underestimated at all peril as she explained: “Sweden struggled in the Nations League, which is why they were in Pot 3, but over the years, they have performed so well.
“They are a top country with top players in their squad, many of whom we know from the Barclays Women’s Super League.
“We know them well because we played against them with England and I played against them when I was with the Netherlands in both the EURO and the World Cup, so they’ve been at the top level all of that time and they will want to show again that they still belong to the top level of European and world football.”
England recently beat Austria and Italy in friendlies and Wiegman believes that the players have been “… able to move forward quickly after our disappointment in December.”
“I think the team showed who we are and where we want to go. Everyone wanted to make a good start and show themselves as an individual and as a team ahead of the qualifiers.
“The camp gave us confidence that we are in a good place and now we look forward to seeing who we will face in the first two games in April.”
England are yet to face France under Wiegman’s reign but the Dutch manager is eager to finally face Les Bleues who reached the FIFA World Cup Quarter-Finals in 2023, just mere months after Herve Renard was appointed as their manager.
“France have a very good squad and they showed their qualities by reaching the Nations League final.
“I’m really excited to play against France because we haven’t faced them during my time as England head coach, so I’m really looking forward to those two games.”
England haven’t faced Republic of Ireland since a 1-0 friendly win in January 2014, yet Wiegman do expect the Irish to provide “competitive” games given the history between Ireland and England in and out of football, although both sets of players know each other well from domestic club competitions.
“The two countries are obviously close to each other so hopefully lots of fans will have the opportunity to go to watch those games.
“Like with Sweden, the players know each other so well because a lot of them play in the Barclays Women’s Super League and some play alongside our players. So I think they are another two games which will be competitive and have some special elements to it too.”
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