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Here’s the latest Football Weekly.
England are European champions, again: Football Weekly – podcast
My sense is that it might brighten your day.
A rare occasion when everyone is in agreement.
Aha, here comes Williamson bearing the trophy. What a leader she is, radiating certainty, steel and compassion, and at 28, there’s plenty yet to come. As used to be said of Frank McLintock, one her predecessors as Arsenal captain, if she’d been skipper of the Titanic, it would never have sunk,.
The squad continue boarding the bus, Alessia Russo and Beth Mead stopping to sign autographs for a young boy. It’s a lovely moment, quiet and symbolic.
Lauren James leaving the team hotel in Zurich. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA
“Something that I think was lost in all the praise being dished out is just how good Jess Carter was in that final,” says Ryan. “Dealt with everything Spain had to throw at her without fuss, and looked so assured. What a way for her to finish that tournament, especially after the horrendous racism and personal abuse she suffered. She was my hero of the night.”
Agreed. She was, I think, my player of the match, though Leah Williamson ran her close. They showed exactly how to defend against a side who you know will dominate possession – proactively, with confidence, composure and discipline.
It’s hosing it down in Zurich … but here come the champions of Europe!
“Daniel! “ begins Ellie Newman. “What a day yesterday. I live in America, and have followed the Lionesses from afar for about 10 years. I’ve watched matches in all kinds of circumstances: alone, on my phone, at work, at home, wherever I can. This year a women’s sports bar opened in my city (Pittsburgh) and last week I convinced them to open early to show the final. We packed the pub. It was so amazing to watch the Lionesses’ grit, determination and self-belief. To get to watch them with a full crowd following every gripping moment was unreal. I’ll always remember this. England!!!”
The scope of all this is mind-boggling. Nothing – literally nothing – crosses every conceivable border, whether based on geography, religion, sex, sexuality or culture – apart from football. It’s a beautiful day.
The view from Madrid:
Defeated but proud: Madrileños brave the heat to roar on La Roja
The England squad will soon be getting on the coach. That’ll take them to the airport, after which they’ll head to Downing Street, where they’ll be welcomed by Angela Rayner. Tom Garry has more on that, though as things stand, there’s nothing on whether Sarina Wiegman plans on pivoting to PM when she’s done winning trophies.
Triumphant Lionesses squad to be honoured at Downing Street
Sky have just shown a clip of Aitana Bonmati’s post-match interview – a perfect example of how to express disappointment and honesty. She was right to say Spain played the better football, and that came across in a way that was not churlish at all; equally, she was right to say they didn’t score one more than England, so can have no complaints about their defeat. She is an absolute superstar, and I’ll be shocked if she doesn’t redeem the situation before she’s done.
“Your point around volunteers and communities is a key one,” says Thomas Atkins. “What will really show that women’s football in England has succeeded, is not a trophy, but if you can walk through a park on a weekend morning and see a group of women of varying ages and abilities playing a game of crap football, purely for the fun of it – just like you see men do pretty much wherever there’s a green space. This is the mistake that the 2012 Olympics made, by thinking that if the elite sportspeople win, then pitches, clubs and infrastructure will magically appear.”
Yup, it needs institutional support along with the the constant inspiration and dedication of leaders. But unlike Olympic sports, many of which only appear in our purview once every four years, football is ubiquitous and unstoppable, so hopefully we’ll see its explosion continue.
Rachel Yankey visits Alessia Russo’s first club, Bearsted FC in Kent, to highlight the impact of National Lottery funding into grassroots sport. Photograph: Tom Dulat/Getty Images for The National Lottery
In the maelstrom of the moment, it can be hard to remember what actually happened – in a post-match interview Hannah Hampton said she couldn’t recall most of the game – so here’s Eze Obasi to take you through the shootout once more.
“Sarina Wiegman is brilliant at responding to the flow of a game and making changes in both players and tactics,” reckons Anil Patel, en route back from Basel. “Something Southgate was rarely able to achieve. That skill is even more important with the advent of ‘goalkeeper time-outs’ where the goalkeeper goes down with an ‘injury’ and the rest of the team rushes to the sidelines for a word with the coaching staff.”
I agree, though it’s fair to note that, during the last men’s Euros, Southgate’s subs made crucial interventions, even if their performances were poor. But, though we’re still enjoying the moment, I’d be pretty surprised if, during the party, no one mentioned the World Cup, coming up in 2027 – in Brazil, too. There, I think, Wiegman and England’s challenge will be to keep winning, but to develop their style into one that is more dominant. This triumph was one of personality and heart – as well as skill under pressure, of course – but the talent and depth is there for them to move up yet another level.
Both channels did a pretty good job throughout the competition. Here’s John Brewin on that:
And here’s the sonic representation of it:
Just synched the BBC Sport, ITV and BBC Sounds commentaries for Agyemang’s goal and it’s like poetry
I’ve been listening to this over and over again pic.twitter.com/sQi5UFMJAM
— Andrea de Cesarism (@22jenson09) July 22, 2025
“We’ve never had so many travelling fans at a women’s Euros, there have been 233,000 from 160 countries.”
That is incredible.
Thinking back to Nick’s piece, it’s worth noting that, of the last four Euro and World Cup finals, womens and men, three have featured England v Spain. That feels like a sea-change in football, and I imagine various countries will be investigating how they did it.
The answer is, in large part, as it always is: money and institutional support. It’s that which delivers facilities, coaching, clubs and so on, but we shouldn’t ignore the contribution of incredible individuals, and by that I don’t just mean the teams and leadership, but the thousands of volunteers who give their time and energy to enrich their immediate communities, creating a movement which enriches all of us.
“It’s difficult not sounds a little soppy when talking about the Lionesses as a ‘woman of a certain age’,” begins Nicola Jemmett. “It feels like they’ve changed everything. Watching last night was incredible, so inspiring and so hopeful. As a small person I really enjoyed playing football, but I wasn’t allowed to play after primary school, which I didn’t understand but for some reason accepted. Then I went to a summer training camp to carry on but didn’t go back after the first day because I was too scared of all the boys and being the only girl. I didn’t want to look stupid, so I just stopped. I never really engaged with the men’s game but seeing women play has been a total reawakening. And now I see it is all possible for girls today. They have these amazing role models, these women who are unstoppable and it gives me so much hope, not just in football and sport, but in life in general. That’s a lot to put on a football team but it really seems like they’ve changed something, a switch has flipped and there’s no going back now. “
I agree. They’ve given the gift of football to so many people, and though there’ll always be prejudice, there’s now a lot less of it – on their account.
Where there are winners, there are nearly-winners. I enjoyed Nick Ames’ piece on Spain, also a special team with special players and people.
“While understandably there’s focus on the Kellys and Agyemangs,” says David Atkins, “I thought it was worth mentioning Niamh Charles – coming on in extra time and then calmly slotting in a key penalty.”
Absolutely. There’s plenty of acclaim to go round and no need to be sparing.
“Morning Dan, morning everyone,” begins Darrien Bold. “If you’d told me England would win the Euros at half-time of their first outing against France I’d have had a right old laugh. The 2022 vintage scrabbling around for form against the expansive French was a painful watch, but fair play to Walsh and Stanway in particular who looked miles off it in that first game and stepped up over the course of the tournament with grit, determination, belief and a bucketload of class and skill too.”
I guess it’s pretty rare for the best team in the group stages to be the team dancing about with a trophy at the end. For years, Germany were known as “Turniermannschaft”, tournament team – their squad talked about it before the semi with Spain – but they may just’ve been usurped.
Is it just me, by the way, or were the England players intimating they were all getting skinheads during their celebrations last evening? That would be something.
Photograph: Oleg Popov/REUTERS
The greatest English team of all time? It’s hard to construct a case them, isn’t it? Here’s Jonathan Liew on the composition of the legends.
“As an England Fan living here in Germany, watching the Women’s win with my eight-year-old son and for-year-old daughter was just a wonderful,” writes Richard Bolan. “This team is just inspiring, never give up, never give in! A really big thank you to the Team and Sarina! Oh and I can’t wait to ask Georgia Stanway to see her medal when we go see her play for Bayern!”
I was saving this for a bit later, but seeing as Richard has raised it, let’s get it going now: loads of us will have very personal accounts of what the Lionesses mean how they’ve enriched our lives – please do send them in.
To get is going, here’s mine: I like football a lot, but my daughter has, despite my best efforts, shown very little interest. But then I took her to Wembley for the Germany final, and though she wasn’t entirely compelled by the action, she adored the atmosphere and started playing at school. Then, yesterday, she got together with a group of mates to watch the final, came back, and told me she absolutely loved the game, finding she much prefers watching women play it than men. Without the Lionesses, she’s ambivalent, at best.
“I’d be interested to hear your thoughts around the rule that because Beth Mead slipped when she took a penalty in the shootout, she had to retake it again even though she’d scored anyway,” says Alex Banks. “Because England won the shootout nobody is complaining about it, but I can see a future shootout where the result goes the other way and all kinds of complaints would erupt. Do you think the rule should be adjusted that if the player slips and scores it stands anyway, or should it remain as-is because it might bamboozle the goalkeeper that’s trying to save it?”
I think the rule is good as is, and actually, I didn’t totally see the need to allow a second go. Part of the test of penalties is keeping your feet under pressure, and it makes sense for the law to say only one touch, otherwise a player could knock it forward for themselves, then shoot. So if you lose balance, as Mead did, then take two touches, as Mead did, I’d call it a miss and move on.
Here’s Bolo Zenden winning a Cup with the move:
Oh my days, I think my eyeballs might be sweating.
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Ooooh yeah dept: here’s a selection of our favourite photos of the tournament. The eyes in the top one are my spirit animal.
Women’s Euro 2025: the best pictures from a dramatic tournament
Email! “These ladies will be the death of me,” writes Deborah Yuil. “I have a (non-fatal) heart condition (arrhythmia, or irregular heart beat) which crops up occasionally – like when Michelle Agyemang stepped onto the pitch last night. What a way to go! Congratulations Lionesses, you really are breathtakingly invincible!”
‘We’re English and you can’t write us off’: Lionesses celebrate Euro 2025 win – video
In times like this, it’s also important to remember the pioneers: your Marianne Spaceys, your Gillian Coulthards, your Kelly Smiths, your Rachel Yankeys, your Anita Asantes of this world. This triumph is also their triumph.
Sky Sports News have just showed footage of the players returning to their hotel. I can’t remember when he said it, but after England’s men won a series or other, Andrew Strauss said in interview that “we’ll celebrate well tonight”. I’ve spent my entire life wanting to a professional sportsman, and I’m not sure I’ve ever felt more envious of those who are. Well, this is another such situation: imagine the satisfaction and the friendship.
One complaint, though, if I may: Uefa must sort the trophy lift. Leah Williamson should not have had to schlep it over to her teammates; rather, you get the team lined up, the captain goes first, hoists it, then passes it down the line for everyone to have a go.
Photograph: Alessandra Tarantino/AP
In fairness, though, this wasn’t bad.
I have a lot of time for these purple puffas – and the Lionesses stash in general.
Photograph: Alessandra Tarantino/AP
In case anyone needs to know: for a look down the Thames, Waterloo Bridge is the best bridge.
Tower Bridge lit up red, white and blue. Photograph: James Weech/PA
Here’s Tom Garry on “proper England” and “badass women”.
It it a piggyback? Yes. But it is great vibes when they’re sorely needed? Also yes.
GWR staff members help decorate the 0730 service from London Paddington to Bristol. Photograph: Ben Whitley/PA
Ahahahahaha! Apparently it’s “very painful” to play an entire tournament, including three periods of extra time, with a fractured tibia. Lucy Roberta Tough Bronze should know.
Lovely stuff dept:
A computer-generated image issued by Royal Mail of how the special congratulatory postmark will look like to mark the Lionesses victory in the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 final against Spain in Basel, Switzerland. The postmark will be applied to stamped mail across the UK from Monday 28 July to Friday 31 July.
Photograph: Royal Mail/PA
I really enjoyed the pithy detail in Sophie Downey’s player ratings:
I wasn’t looking for comparators to the Lionesses, because there aren’t any, and even if there were, they merit celebrating on their own merits. But last evening, towards the end of extra time, the sense of unstoppable destiny I felt – of when you know the power of a team is celestial and supernatural – reminded me of watching Manchester United in 1998-99. And this morning, I’m reminded of something Alex Ferguson – of whom Sarina Wiegman reminds me, a lot – said of Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Champions League winner:
The celebrations begun by that goal will never stop. just thinking about it can put me in party mood.
And all they did was win a few football matches. The Lionesses have changed what football matches mean.
Relive each moment: now we know, but strange though it seems, there was also a time when we didn’t. Check Sarah Rendell’s minute-by-minute, which she somehow managed to bring to you without passing out.
Please do, over the course of the day, feel free to send in your personal reflections – on the game, on the achievements and on the people. I’ll start: one of very many things I love about the Lionesses is the cohesiveness that elevates rather than stultifies the individuals. Whether it’s the calm, confident leadership of Leah Williamson; the wide-eyed bafflement and dead-table resting-pulse of Michelle Agyemang; the dizzying , infectious ebullience of Chloe Clutch-Kelly; the inspiring devotion of Lucy Bronze; I could go on all day here, and I’m going to.
But for now, there’s someone for everyone, except they’re all for all of us, and that is a credit both to them and to the environment created by the football and HR genius of their manager. Sarina Wiegman, what a woman.
Did that really happen? Apparently so. Here’s Suzy Wrack’s match report!
Hello, wondrous morning, and welcome. It’s our happy duty to spend the next numerous hours luxuriating in an achievement and a joy, creating and nourishing, a love and an impact, that we’ll never fully grasp or process: Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses have changed football, have changed England, and have changed us. There was before them and there will be after them, but now there is only them …. touching me, touching you. We are privileged to be living in their time, and it is incumbent upon us to enjoy every aspect of it. Here we go!
