Right, it’s time to wrap up this liveblog now and transfer your attention to Sarah Rendell’s Germany v Denmark MBM report as kick-off approaches in Basel. Enjoy the games. Bye.
Feel your soul and spirit sucked from your body with the latest Fifa geopolitics news, bringing the world together.
Here’s a bit more on the Wales team bus crash, from PA Media.
The Wales team bus has been involved in a crash on the way to training in St Gallen ahead of Wednesday night’s Euro 2025 clash with France.
Head coach Rhian Wilkinson, who was not on the coach as she and midfielder Angharad James travelled separately to the stadium for the pre-match press conference, said she believed all the players were uninjured, although reports suggested the driver of another vehicle involved was receiving medical treatment at the scene.
Wilkinson said: “This is really developing right now, so we are trying to be as clear and transparent as possible. I think everyone, from all reports, is OK and we just need to get them all together and get everyone away from the scene to reassess. We’ve got great staff, great support and we will make sure that everyone continues to be OK.
“More importantly, I think the driver of the other vehicle is OK as well. We will let everyone know once we know for sure.”
Wales have cancelled their planned training session at the stadium as a result.
Spanish police believe Diogo Jota was driving over the speed limit when he and his brother died in a car crash last week.
Spain’s Civil Guard said on Tuesday that while its investigation into the cause of the crash last Thursday was continuing, it believed Jota was driving too fast when the Lamborghini veered off course after a tyre burst.
Previously, the police had not said whether Jota or his brother André Silva was driving. On Tuesday they said that it appeared Jota was.
Wales team bus involved in collision; no reported injuries
The Wales team coach has been involved in a road traffic accident en route to the stadium in St Gallen where they play France tomorrow. No one in the coach or the car is reported to be hurt, but this afternoon’s training has been cancelled.
That concerning news obviously framed the press conference just given by their head coach, Rhian Wilkinson, and captain Angharad James. “We’re just trying to be as transparentas we can,” said Wilkinson. “The reports are that everyone’s OK and we’ll be checking in on everyone to see they’re OK. Just as importantly I think everyone in the other car is alright. Football is secondary and yes we are shaken but equally we’ve a great group. We’ve practised for the unexpected but we’ll check back in to see everyone’s in a good spot and work back towards our football.”
As for tomorrow’s game, Wilkinson said Wales “had moments where we know we can improve” against the Netherlands. “We have another opportunity [against France] and everyone’s talked about the consequences if we lose but equally it’s about delivering as strong a performance as we possibly can
Her captain, James, adds: “Emotions were obviously high in the first game and we ‘d waited a long time for that moment. The fans were unreal, an experience a lot of us had perhaps not experienced before. We’ve prepared the way we do for any other game – we’ve played France before, but we’ve had conversations and we’ve learnt a lot about ourselves in the past few days.”
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Women’s Football Weekly has dropped, in which Faye Carruthers, Suzy Wrack, Robyn Cowen and Alex Ibaceta chew over Spain’s romp against Belgium – and whether the world champions might have defensive flaws that can be exploited – as well as Portugal’s fun draw with Italy, and they look forward to the major tests confronting England and Wales tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Matt Hughes reports on English football’s uneven progress on the diversity front and the notable silence from clubs about the latest published data.
In one sense, the silence is unsurprising. Analysis of the data conducted by Kick It Out paints a depressing picture of a sport sorely lacking in diversity, with the staff at most clubs not reflecting the ethnic make-up of their local communities.
In the Premier League, 78% of clubs’ workforces are white compared with an average of 66% among the local populations and although there is 13% ethnic diversity among the coaching staff, only two top-flight clubs reported having Black, Asian and minority ethnic coaches in senior roles.
Thanks Sarah. Greetings everyone. Looking forward to Germany v Denmark, even if you’d make Germany firm favourites against a Danish side not in the best of form. As Sarah mentions, the teams met at the last Euros exactly three years ago today, at Brentford. Two of their scorers that night, Lina Magull and Alex Popp, aren’t in the squad this year but Lea Schuller and Klara Buhl, who excelled, are. I was at that 2022 game with my then-10-year-old, surrounded by Denmark fans who made their presence felt rather more impressively than their team. Anyway, it was a lovely evening. What a golden summer that was.
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And with that my watch has ended. I am handing over to Tom Davies now who will take you through the last hour before I take you through Germany v Denmark build-up. Have a good afternoon.
Pattinson joins London City Lionesses
London City Lionesses have announced Poppy Pattinson as their latest signing. The defender left Brighton in May and had not been linked to any club but has now joined the newly promoted WSL side.
She said on arriving:
Becoming a London City Lioness is very exciting; I want to help the team as much as possible and bring my experience and strengths to the club. I want us to finish as high as we can and make our mark in the WSL.
There is no doubting that Lauren James is a generational talent. There is natural ability in abundance. She is also an example of what technically gifted women’s players can be when given elite-level coaching from a young age.
She is an example of what is to come, an outlier among her peers, having benefited from her father, Nigel, being a Uefa-qualified coach with his own coaching programme that is, in his own words, “about pure ball mastery and delivery with panache, to ultimately create elite technicians of the game”.
Stars like Ewa Pajor and Jule Brand will be hoping to add to their scoring tally today in the group stage Euro matches but who is the current top scorer? Click here to find out:
Group B played yesterday and the result saw Belgium get knocked out the competition. Spain secured knockout football with the last quarter-final spot still up for grabs between Portugal and Italy. Recap the action:
Exactly three years ago today Germany and Denmark played one another at Euro 2022. They play each other this evening in the 2025 tournament but the Danes will be hoping the result does not follow suit as Germany beat them 4-0 on their charge to the final.
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Former England star Jill Scott has said there is no need to panic after the Lionesses lost 2-1 to France in their opening game. She told PA:
I 100% think there has been an overreaction. I feel like the team loses, and then suddenly it’s panic stations, but we have to remember that France are one of the top teams. It was always going to be a close game, and they’ve got some amazing players.
For me, it’s about not panicking. We know in football, there’s going to be criticism, but the girls just need to focus on the the job in hand.
Sweden defender Nathalie Bjorn has been speaking about coming up against Poland’s Ewa Pajor in the 8pm BST kick-off. She said:
She’s an incredibly talented player and a tough opponent. She’s constantly running, strong in the box, and a very intelligent player. It’s been helpful that I’ve faced her before in the Champions League and even back in youth teams, years back.
“It’s easy to look at the time and think there’s not enough left,” says England wildcard Michelle Agyemang. “That’s the beauty of the game. It only takes 10 seconds to make an impact. Any time is good enough for me so I’m grateful for that opportunity.”
The 19-year-old forward is true to her word – it took her only 41 seconds to score on her England debut, reducing the deficit against Belgium from 3-1 to 3-2 in April. On Saturday, she was given four minutes of normal time against France to make a difference. She made an impact but, despite a battling final 10 minutes, the Lionesses couldn’t salvage a point.
In the latest edition of our weekly women’s football newsletter, Moving the Goalposts, Annemarie Postma looks at the Netherlands’ manager Andries Jonker. Have a read:
Former England star Ellen White has been speaking about the significance of the Lionesses’ next game. If England lose to the Netherlands tomorrow night they will be out of the tournament. She told the BBC:
I don’t want to sound boo hoo or anything like that but if we don’t win, I don’t even think a point is really good enough. We have to win against the Netherlands. The girls have to have the mentality where it is all guns blazing. You have got to show up in your physical duels, you have got to show up in your technical ability and you have got to be clinical.
I’d love to hear from you, email me to tell me your thoughts on the tournament, ask any question or share anything that comes to mind.
While Denmark manager Andrée Jeglertz has said:
We still have it in our own hands, and that’s our focus, not on speculation about whether a point would be useful or anything like that. We believe we are in a good place as a squad.
Against Sweden we defended in a good way. There were three shots on target for them and three for us. Of course they had possession but we gave it to them where they should have it, so the defensive shape was good.
Christian Wück, Germany coach, has said before his side play Denmark:
[Denmark] were unlucky to lose against Sweden. They were very compact and were able to pose a threat on the counter, and we’re expecting a similar style of play against us.
We will need to be patient again. We will play against a compact team that won’t afford us much room, so we will need to be patient in possession and wait for space to open up, which we then need to take advantage of. We will have to be more clinical in front of goal, in order to finish the chances that we create.
Let’s turn to tonight’s games for a moment. The first one up is Germany v Denmark and it is possible for the Danes to be knocked out today, though it won’t be clear until Poland have played Sweden.
Denmark will be out if they lose to Germany and Sweden avoid defeat by Poland. Poland, who are competing in their first Euros, could also be out today if they lose to Sweden and Germany avoid defeat by Denmark.
Speaking of England, during the press conference yesterday Georgia Stanway likened the France defeat to a “bad night out” that she just wants to forget. You can read all the details:
England in final training session
The Lionesses play the Netherlands in a must-win game tomorrow and the team are in their final training session as we type and read. All 23 players are involved which means manager Sarina Wiegman has all options at her disposal for selection.
Roebuck signs for Aston Villa
England goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck has signed for Aston Villa on a free transfer from Barcelona. Roebuck spent the 2024/25 season at the Spanish giants but failed to break through into the starting team.
Aston Villa’s director of women’s football Marisa Ewers said:
We are delighted that Ellie will be joining our club.
She is an exciting addition to the team and is a player with a lot of experience who can help drive our performance levels.
Thank you Dominic, have a good rest of your day. Hello everyone, yes I will be taking the reins for the next couple of hours where we will look at the permutations of tonight’s games and what has been said in the build-up. I will also bring you any other news from the tournament and any big signings. Speaking of which…
Right, time for me to hand over to Sarah Rendell who is going to steer you through the lunchtime period as we get closer to tonight’s two games. Over to you, Sarah.
A bit of non-Euros related news for you here:
England could be represented in the Club World Cup final, regardless of whether Chelsea reach the showpiece event in New Jersey. The Premier League referees Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor, and their respective assistants, have both been kept on at the inaugural expanded Fifa tournament. Taylor’s team, which includes Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn, officiated PSG’s quarter-final victory over Bayern Munich, while Oliver has been working with Stuart Burt and James Mainwaring, with the trio appointed to Bayern’s last-16 win over Flamengo. Poland’s Szymon Marciniak and France’s Francois Letexier, both of whom have been awarded semi-finals, the latter taking charge of Chelsea’s meeting with Fluminense on Tuesday, are alternative options. The final is on Sunday at the MetLife Stadium.
Spain’s performances have clearly caught the eye of the bookmakers, who put them as short as 10/11 to lift successive major trophies.
Germany (7/2) and France (5/1) are considered the next best teams by the bookies, with England still lingering at 7/1. Norway, despite winning both of their opening matches, are priced at 25/1.
The goals from Spain’s win over Belgium last night, by the way, are something else. I’m torn over whether Alexia Putellas’s first or the curling Claudia Pina finish was the pick of the bunch. Worth watching.
Some live action to bring you! Follow along here:
Wales’ women may have lost their opening game at Euro 2025 to the Netherlands – their first ever major tournament match – and would appear to be the Group D strugglers after that 3-0 reverse.
But midfielder Josie Green has told BBC Sport that Wales believe they can frustrate France in their next game tomorrow. After that comes a huge tie against the Lionesses.
I think you have to be adaptable in tournament football and it’s going to be key for us moving forward – we’re always a team that finishes strongly in games.
The key for us is staying in the game as long as we can.
We’ve reviewed the Dutch game, we have learnt lessons, and hopefully moving on into the next match, we know that we can frustrate teams. That’s something that’s in our DNA and that we’ve done consistently throughout the Nations League, in tough games against Sweden, Denmark and Italy.
Today's Euro 2025 fixtures
So a reminder of what we’ve got coming up this evening as Group C takes centre-stage:
Germany v Denmark (Basel), 5pm
Poland v Sweden (Lucerne), 8pm
Kickoffs are BST (UK times).
Away from Euro 2025, the generator of men’s summer transfers is whirring, whizzing, and starting to dominate our thoughts once more.
Anthony Elanga to Newcastle appears to be the one everyone’s talking about at the moment, while Spurs have snared Japan defender Kota Takai. Less certain are the futures of England men’s trio Eberechi Eze, Jack Grealish and Marc Guéhi.
If delving further into transfer title tattle is your thing, The Rumour Mill is your perfect guide.
Are England missing Millie Bright at this tournament? (Along with a few others, probably: yes)
It’s hard to read much into the group standings with lots of countries still having played just a single game, but Norway and Spain are the only sides who have won two from two. Germany, Sweden, France and the Netherlands can match them, though that Dutch game against England on Wednesday is really tough to call.
I make that five sides who you’d imagine would qualify for the quarter-finals, plus one of the Netherlands or England, plus (probably) Italy and one of Switzerland or Finland? Or maybe you disagree … maybe there are some shocks waiting for us around the corner?
It’s both a strength and a weakness of the format that one defeat, or one win, can pretty much determine your path, unless some kind of heroic turnaround is mustered (over to you, Lionesses).
And here’s more from England’s exciting teenage forward Michelle Agyemang, who is desperate to make a telling difference to boost their Euro 2025 chances, most likely from the bench against the Netherlands.
Some reading from elsewhere in the football world for you:
England forward Michelle Agyemang is eager to carve out her own distinctive identity after bursting onto the scene in spectacular style.
The 19-year-old Arsenal striker announced her arrival with a goal 41 seconds after coming off the bench for her senior debut in April’s Nations League loss to Belgium, and earned her second cap late on in the Lionesses’ Euro 2025-opening defeat to France on Saturday.
Though the cameo was short, Agyemang made a big impression, sparking life into an England attack that, until Keira Walsh’s 87th-minute goal, had not registered a single shot on target, at times looking like she might equalise and make it two international goals in as many appearances.
“In terms of mirroring my game, I think I want to be a unique player,” Agyemang said. “Obviously there’s things I take from other people, but I want to be my own type of player and bring my own type of input to the game.”
On Saturday, Wiegman, who Agyemang describes as “like a mum to us, almost ... who has put a lot of trust in me” told the forward to “just go and change the game” in her major tournament debut. PA Media
This remains just an excellent tool. Our complete guide to all 368 players at Euro 2025. Please continue to enjoy.
Meanwhile, Georgia Stanway wants the Lionesses to go back to their roots and be “proper England” as they prepare to face the Netherlands at Euro 2025. Here’s what the midfielder said:
We know as a team that we underperformed [against France]. We know as individuals that we underperformed. I didn’t want to do the press conference today because I’m fed up of talking now. It’s time that we focus on putting things right on the grass.
We’re all just dying for the game to come round as fast as possible because we want to make sure that we’re stepping on that pitch knowing what we’ve experienced but also wanting to make a change.
We’ve spoken about wanting to be ‘proper England’; we want to go back to what we’re good at, we want to go back to a traditional style of football in terms of tough tackles, getting back to our roots and remembering why we’re here, remembering that we’re playing for the little girl that wanted to be here.
It’s make or break for the Lionesses tomorrow. Sarina Wiegman must topple her native Netherlands to keep England in the tournament, after defeat in their opening match left them in a precarious position in Group D.
What should Wiegman do with Lauren James? As Suzy Wrack writes, the gifted playmaker presents her manager with a conundrum. Do they harness her unpredictability or prioritise midfield structure?
Alexia Putellas said she found a flow state in Spain’s 6-2 win over Belgium that made things come easy to her.
Finding herself in the zone on a wet, blustery evening, Putellas picked up her second straight player of the game award and scored a brace as Spain put the Belgians to the sword.
She said: “I think there are plenty of moments in a game, the team had an excellent performance, and even if we almost always have things we can improve, I believe that team is fine. We feel comfortable, if there’s something that doesn’t work we can change and adapt.”
Putellas opened the scoring with a typical Spanish goal midway through the first half, punctuating an intricate passing move with a powerful strike, and she netted her team’s sixth goal late on to cap a fine individual display.
Asked whether her flow came from her own performance or that of the team, Putellas said it was a little bit of both. “They go hand in hand; as an individual you think about the group and when you feel we are all together, you flow, it makes me feel good of course,” she explained.
“I have this role of creating options, sometimes I finish them, sometimes others do, (but) I’m feeling great.” Reuters
Preamble
Good morning all and welcome to another day of our Euro 2025 news blog. Well, world champions Spain have thumped 11 goals past Portugal and Belgium in their opening two games and will take some beating if they’re to be denied another tournament success. Diana Gomes helped the Portuguese nick a draw with Italy in the other Group B game last night, as things roll on to Group C this evening (how good are 16-team tournaments, by the way?)
If we thought before things kicked off in Switzerland that perhaps England would struggle to defend their title and the likes of Germany and Sweden would not be as strong as in previous years, we could well be proven right. At the moment it looks like Spain … and then the rest.
Germany and Sweden are both in action tonight, as it goes, against Denmark and Poland respectively. They did each win their opening games. Let’s see what today brings. Please stick with us for all the buildup and breaking news.
