The UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 football championships. An inspiration for women and girls to take up football?

An estimated number of 65,000 people lined The Mall in London this week to welcome home the Women’s England Football Team from their achievement of winning the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 football championships, held in Switzerland. The crowd were made up of young and old, boys and girls and men and women, a testament to the broad appeal women’s football has now with the general public.

The players and team staff including their coach, Sarina Wiegman, looked amazed and joyful with the reception they were receiving, standing atop of the open air bus as it proceeded up The Mall. This procession was the last of two days of official celebrations for the team. The previous evening, they had attended a reception at number 10, Downing Street hosted by the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, and sports minister, Stephanie Peacock.

‘Team spirit’ was a common refrain from each of the players and their coach.

The women’s team are frequently given the nickname ‘Lionesses’ based upon the three lion emblem on their kit and as a metaphor for their ability to work as a team to achieve their goal of success on the football pitch. In a thrilling final against Spain that team spirit shone through. One nil down, they managed to fight back and equalize when Alessia Russo headed in a superb cross from Chloe Kelly. After a nail biting 30 minutes of extra time, Chloe Kelly was the one to score the winning goal in the final penalty shoot out.

Team spirit was a common refrain from each of the players and their coach. Individual tenacity also played a great part in order for this team to face adversity and still win through. Lucy Bronze announced that she had played the whole tournament in pain with a fractured shin bone, while others such as England’s goalkeeper, Hannah Hampton and UEFA’s player of the match, had overcome an eye condition to pursue a football career.

Young woman football training

They have retained their European title from 2022 but somehow this time round the success is more significant. It demonstrated that women’s football in England is going from strength to strength with the ability of players to again win a major international tournament. Their success in 2022 was not a fluke.

There is the question of legacy

There is the question of legacy and how this latest win will influence those women who wish to take up the sport. This year’s final had been watched by a peak audience of 16.2 million on BBC and ITV. With this current level of interest in the women’s game of football, it is anticipated that attendances at domestic matches will go up, investment in the game will grow and media cover increase.

The BBC and Sky TV have made announcements that they will show games on a regular basis in the coming Women’s Super League football season. Barclay’s Bank are sponsoring the 2025-2026 season and, undoubtedly, on the back of the increased popularity of the women’s game, many other companies will want to promote their own products; hopefully this will not result in over commercialization which might otherwise spoil the women’s game.

When women step into roles traditionally held by men the dial moves gradually towards a new normal for women. In this case the success of the Lionesses translates as success for the women’s game, which should inspire many women and girls to take up the sport of football and surely its popularity will eventually solidify the games place in society.

The joy shown by the crowd in The Mall at seeing their Lionesses return triumphantly demonstrates that the enthusiasm is there to make women’s football the game to watch. For the price of less than a cinema ticket it is affordable and is a great day out for all the family. Long may that continue.

by Ian Smith