Euro 2025 felt like it might never end. With a record five matches going to extra time, there were plenty of exciting highs, devastating lows and reflective travel in between.
England were comeback queens with their three extra-time matches, two of which went to penalty kicks. They only led for about four minutes during the entire knockout stage before capturing a second consecutive European Championship. Spain fell at the end, but enjoyed a tournament without controversy, finally. And hosts Switzerland put on a record-breaking show with a total of 657,291 in attendance despite the overall smaller stadiums from the last tournament.
In an action-packed month, what moments stood out? What lessons did we learn? And what do we see for the future of the tournament and its teams?
Let's start with some recency bias…
Charlotte Harpur:Chloe Kelly is a big game player on the biggest stage. Cold as ice who plays with fire. Her impact off the bench was immense for England in their run to a second consecutive European Championship. She registered the joint-most chances created (eight) and the most successful crosses (10) of any substitute in a single tournament since data has been collected for major women's tournaments in 2011, according to Opta. And she dispatched that penalty with a bang!
Michael Cox: Patri Guijarro is an elegant holding midfielder who also pushes up to press and becomes a goalscoring threat. It was a shame she was on the losing side in the final but she was, at least, the only Spanish player to score her penalty.
Megan Feringa:It's Kelly. No other player has been as reliably lethal this tournament or as compulsively creative. From her penalty run-up to the fact that, six months ago, few people's money was on her. There are clutch players and then there is Kelly.
Laia Cervello Herrero:Guijarro was the most consistent player of the entire tournament. She was Spain's metronome. She set the tempo for the team and provided the perfect balance between attack and defence.
Harpur:The problem is, it was all such a blur that I don't remember Michelle Agyemang 's equalisers against Sweden or Italy — but I will remember her impact.
Cox: Ann-Katrin Berger 's save against France truly was exceptional. I had basically given up on her managing to reach it, thinking, "Well, that's an annoying way for the game to be settled." And then somehow, she clawed it out and Germany scrambled the ball away.
Feringa:Against the Netherlands in Lucerne, Wales played their first major tournament match . The pre-match anthem was a raw attack on hearts for a team that faced countless trials to reach this stage. It seemed the universe had something magical up its sleeve. It turns out Vivianne Miedema did instead. Nevertheless, there was glory and song.
Cervello Herrero:Berger's save against France or Cata Coll 's double save in the 94th minute against Germany that took the match into extra time. The Spanish goalkeeper celebrated that save as if it had been a goal for Spain. Off the pitch, Italy's celebration after beating Norway to reach the semi-finals will stick with me. In the mixed zone , the players were singing, dancing and eating pizza. You couldn't ask for much more.
Harpur: Lena Oberdorf , who was ruled out with a knee injury, was a massive miss for Germany. At 23 years old, you would hope she has many more tournaments to come.
Cox:I'll admit that I'd never heard of Norway's Signe Gaupset until the final group game against Iceland, when she came into the side and scored twice. Then she looked incredibly excited, and raw, against Italy. It was like she had not yet learned the 'rules' of attacking play and just did her own thing, including taking a shot from 50 yards that wasn't even a lob. She just hammered it. It nearly went in. I'm sure she'll be more refined in four years, but I enjoyed watching the unpolished talent, which reminded me of Wayne Rooney at Euro 2004 .
Feringa:Mine's not a player but a team. I loved seeing Italy's graft, passion and unity. I didn't love them taking a shot from 35 yards out with four minutes of stoppage time remaining and ultimately shunting their chance at a final. But I hope to see them again this deep in a tournament.
Cervello Herrero:Vicky Lopez, the Spanish playmaker who turned 19 during the tournament. She started against Portugal and Belgium in place of Aitana Bonmati, who was absent due to meningitis , and she left me wanting more. Although she played as a midfielder, she always says she prefers playing as a left-winger. Her boldness and youth are a breath of fresh air, and she is a promising player.
Harpur:"She might get papped eating a pasty like I did! I'll have to warn her about that," said Ella Toone when asked what England's super sub Agyemang can expect once she goes home. Pure unfiltered Tooney.
Cox:There's far too much emphasis on what footballers say in press conferences, so I enjoyed Georgia Stanway turning up to one before the Netherlands game. "What we want going forward is just to make actions," the England midfield said. "We want to stop talking, hence why I didn't want to do the press conference today. I'm fed up with talking." Fair enough. England won 4-0.
Feringa:"I'm not emotional. I'm just living my best life and I'm in a semi-final." Berger said after she produced the save of the tournament, then saved two penalties and scored another in Germany's penalty shootout quarter-final victory against France. There are levels. And there is AKB.
Cervello Herrero:"We are doing this for our glory, but the meaning is much deeper, and we want to bring this meaning to Italy. In Italy, we can play football and also women and girls can play football," said Cristiana Girelli after scoring twice in the 2-1 win against Norway, which put Italy in the semi-finals for the first time since 1997. Her speech at the press conference gave me goosebumps.
Harpur:I really did think this was the year France were going to go beyond the quarter-finals. The group seemed united, the pressure was off and they were having fun. But they stumbled yet again when the odds were staggeringly in their favour. They had an extra player for 113 minutes and a 1-0 lead against Germany but they crumbled.
Cox:I'm genuinely sorry that Sweden's elimination was sealed by 18-year-old Smilla Holmberg missing the crucial spot kick. She had debuted for Sweden the previous month, became a sudden national hero with a (lucky) goal against Germany, made a superb block to keep her side in it against England and could barely run by the end of the game due to a knock suffered in that action. Hopefully, she'll have future tournaments to make it up for it.
Feringa:Norway. In the sense that it's more disappointing that they lived up to the expectations that they would slink into the shadows again with no rhyme or reason, their quality flopping like gelatin onto hot pavement. It's not fun to watch anymore. Someone, please fix them.
Cervello Herrero:It has to be France. I thought they would be Spain's biggest rival in the semi-finals, and I wasn't sure which of the two would be the favourite. After their performance in the 'group of death', I expected more from them against Germany.
Harpur:The summit of emotions.
Cox:A tournament with not a single genuinely bad match.
Feringa:Good fun, big mountains, missed penalties.
Cervell0 Herrero:Fresh air, good organisation, viral meningitis and penalty shootouts.
Harpur:I went to Stadion Letzigrund to watch Spain against Germany as a fan, thanks to Michael. Walking among the crowds, I felt the warm, welcoming and buzzy vibe this tournament has created. I saw the pitch from a different angle, and I couldn't believe how tight the spaces were in which players have to operate. And I left the stadium at full time feeling lighter: no press conferences, no mixed zone, no articles. I just: "Be".
Cox:On the way to Germany 2-1 Denmark in Basel, I became so engrossed in a book that I failed to realise that I was the only passenger left on the train, which had parked up in a depot somewhere in the Swiss countryside about 10 minutes beforehand. After a panicked SOS call, I was rescued. Thanks to the driver who turned up for being very friendly and giving me a personalised announcement: "Our next stop is Aarau, where you should have got off before."
Feringa:I loved the opportunity to hike at any time. Jumping on a tram and ambling up a mountain, rediscovering how wonderfully small and insignificant I am on this big, blue, beautiful marble, just a few blurry hours after the umpteenth game to go to extra time. Soul soothing.
Cervello Herrero:On the night of the France-Germany match, I went with other Spanish journalists to watch the game at an outdoor venue overlooking Lake Geneva. They had set up deckchairs and a giant screen to follow the tournament. There, we met several players from Spain, as their hotel was just a few metres away. They were watching the match. Although I know that many of them preferred Germany as their next opponent in semi-finals, after seeing Berger's save and how the Germans had held out with one player less against France, their faces no longer said the same thing.
Harpur:Switzerland is a swimmer's paradise. The Dolder Grand is a very swanky hotel. Switzerland does not have European plug sockets. Swiss people are extremely friendly. Coffee here is very strong. Geneva is so French. In Basel, there is a tripoint where the borders of France, Germany and Switzerland meet… but England are never ever done, ever.
Cox:Switzerland is a fantastic country. I was always aware that the countryside was beautiful, but for some reason, I expected the cities to be dull. I was wrong. Bern is magnificent, Zurich is an incredibly exciting place to be, and Thun is maybe the nicest town I've ever visited for football.
Feringa:I'm really not a fan of extra time.
Cervello Herrero:Italy is getting serious about women's football, and I couldn't be happier. England always has one more bullet left to fire. Spain can have a quiet tournament, far from controversy. And Switzerland was the best organiser.
Harpur:It's dangerous to assume more games are always better. If you add more teams, you need significant depth in quality.
Instead, focus on having highly competitive games in which something is always at stake, not a cricket score whitewash. This tournament has been brilliant for action-packed drama and fans want to see jeopardy, not a predictable winner. Remember, women's football is still in a growth stage. Only add where you will get the most value and when you can afford to add. After all, more teams will increase tournament costs.
Cox:There's literally nothing wrong with the tournament. There is an incredibly steep drop-off after the current group of qualifiers, and the value in a 16-team Euros is that there's quality all the way through, and almost no matches that feel irrelevant. A 24-team tournament, with some third-placed sides through to the knockouts, increases the number of meaningless matches and dilutes the quality.
Even the qualifiers were really exciting, gathering 16 of the best sides to play one another, rather than pitting them against minnows they beat 20-0.
Feringa:Sixteen-team major tournaments have their merits (specifically, the quality on display and helping prevent my brain from degenerating into an oversaturated puddle) but a 24-team competition allows the spreading of wealth and opportunity to other nations, avoiding the perpetuation of an established hegemony. Between the past two Euros, the established six — England, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden — have played 28 games against non-top six opposition, winning 27 and drawing one. While the floor of women's football in Europe is lifting, a 24-team tournament allows nations that can't get a foot in the door at the moment to join the movement upwards.
Cervello Herrero:There were no filler matches in this tournament — all of them were entertaining and exciting for the audience. This will encourage more people to watch, both at the stadium and at home.
There is a disparity in the level of commitment being shown by different countries to their women's teams, and it's good that this is a tournament in which only the best teams with the most consistent football qualify. It makes the competition meaningful.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic .
International Football, Women's Soccer, Women's Euros
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