Key events
Did you wonder why Chloe Kelly and Beth Mead clicked their fingers in celebration of a goal against Wales? Arsenal’s Kelly explains all:
The Guardian columnist and USWNT manager Emma Hayes has previewed this quarter-final, you can read her analysis here:
Tom Garry
For a nation with a population of 10 million, with a men’s national side that failed to quality for three of the past four World Cups, Sweden have a track record in women’s football that belongs to a sporting superpower.
Sweden finished third at three of the past four Women’s World Cups and are five-time World Cup semi-finalists. They also claimed the silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Olympics. In Europe, their success is even more consistent and they stand one win from a 10th European semi-final when they meet England in Zurich on Thursday. Their men’s national side has not reached a world or European semi-final for more than 30 years.
England defender Lucy Bronze has said:
Every other team wants to replicate what England did in 2022, what the Netherlands did before us, and really boost women’s football and we know that success comes from that. We know that we’re very fortunate in England that when we have success it really does explode the game and I think it’s what we want all over Europe and all over the world.
More here:
One quarter-final has already been played and it saw Italy beat Norway to progress to the last four at a women’s major tournament for the first time since 1997. They will be the opponent for whoever wins tonight’s match and you can catch up on all the action from last night’s quarter-final here:
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the Euro 2025 quarter-final between Sweden and defending champions England.
The Lionesses had a bumpy start to their campaign but finished the group stage strongly to reach the last eight, while Sweden have recorded three wins from three so far.
It is set to be a tight match with the nations among the favourites to win the entire tournament. The game is a repeat of the Euro 2022 semi-final where England beat Sweden 4-0 but the scoreline is not set to be as one-sided this time around.
Before the team news drops at around 6.45pm BST, we can take a look at what has been said in the build-up and big news from around the tournament. Let’s go.
