Key events
26 min: Graham Hansen tries to break into space down the middle, only to be grabbed by the shirt from behind by Calligaris, who really should go into the book, but gets away with it. The referee in a laissez-faire mood so far.
24 min: Riesen probes down the left and cuts back for Reuteler, who takes a touch to the right, opens her body, and pings a sensational rising shot towards the top-right corner. Fiskerstrand is beaten all ends up, but the shot is a couple of inches too high, and caroms off the crossbar. So close to a wonderful opener!
23 min: Reiten sends in the corner but it’s easily claimed by Peng. The Swiss counter, Riesen crossing from the left. Xhemaili goes for the ball but only manages to catch Hansen. Free kick.
22 min: Reiten drives hard down the left and wins a corner off the back-tracking Beney. Five white shirts around the penalty spot, preparing to spray out in all directions when the corner comes in.
20 min: Maanum is fine to continue. And everyone else is suitably refreshed.
19 min: Maanum is down, requiring some treatment. Everyone else takes the opportunity to grab a bevvy. Cooling Break!
17 min: Now it’s Reuteler’s turn to have a dig from distance. She meets a loose ball with the outside of her foot, sending it dipping and screeching goalwards. Fiskerstrand has a tougher job on her hands to claim this time, but she does so well, gathering calmly on her line.
15 min: A Swiss corner is cut back for Wälti, who pearls a shot straight at Fiskerstrand. Crisply hit, but that’s the keeper’s all day.
13 min: Reiten plays a cute first-time defence-splitter down the middle to release Hegerberg, who surely must enter the box and shoot, but hesitates, allowing Maritz to extend a leg and poke away. Then the flag goes up for offside anyway … though that looked pretty tight. Had Hegerberg scored, VAR might have had some lines to draw with the old magic ruler there. A big chance spurned.
12 min: … but then so is Graham Hansen, who twists the blood of Calligaris down the left before whipping in a cross that Peng does well to claim in her six-yard box.
11 min: Switzerland push Norway back again. Riesen probes down the left. Play’s switched. Beney crosses from the right. Too long. Switzerland’s wingers are looking lively.
9 min: Reiten makes good down the left and looks for Maanum in the middle. Maanum is surprised at Riesen’s arrival from behind and hoicks over.
8 min: Norway finally show in attack, Graham Hansen gliding in gracefully from the left flank but not quite making herself enough space to shoot. She lays off to Boe Risa, who is quickly dispossessed. Switzerland break, and Riesen crosses from the left. Ivelj heads goalwards but there’s no power on the effort and Fiskerstrand claims without fuss.
6 min: Riesen is being afforded far too much space down the left. She’s nearly released again by a long crossfield ball, but Bjelde gets over in the nick of time to put a stop to the move.
4 min: Riesen is sent scampering into acres down the left. She crosses low for Reuteler. Mjelde intervenes just in time to concede a corner, from which nothing comes. But this is a very promising opening period for Switzerland. Norway haven’t turned up for work yet.
2 min: The corner’s only half cleared by Norway, and Maritz comes back at them down the right. Her low, hard cross nearly reaches Xhemaili, six yards out, but it’s hacked clear properly in the second instance. A fast start from the hosts.
1 min: Beney runs at Bratberg Lund down the right. She crosses. The ball pings up off Bratberg Lund’s foot and onto her hand, which isn’t that close to her body. Beney wants a penalty, and you’ve seen them given for far less, but the referee’s not interested. VAR won’t poke its neb in either. Just a corner.
The hosts Switzerland get the ball rolling. St Jakob-Park in Basel is a cauldron, both in terms of temperature and atmosphere. A beautiful noise.
The teams are out! Switzerland in red, Norway in white. Before kick-off, it’s time for the national anthems. One phrase in Norway’s song, Ja, vi elsker dette landet (Yes, We Love This Country), springs out. “Love, love it!” As far as we’re aware, and admittedly we’ve done no research, it’s the only allusion to a Premier League manager suffering a nuclear meltdown in any national hymn. As for the Swiss Psalm, it’s by all accounts not very popular in Switzerland, to the point where a TV competition was held in 2014 to rewrite it or come up with a better one. Apparently the results of that were met with a wave of apathy as well. To gently tweak a line from the great 20th-century philosopher Jerome Seinfeld, people do not like to say Swiss Psalm.
The Guardian’s team of experts have made their pre-tournament predictions. Fans of the two teams competing this evening shouldn’t get too excited: Suzanne Wrack goes as far as saying Norway have the capacity to “not be disappointing”, but that faint praise is as good as it gets. Elsewhere, Switzerland is only mentioned with regards to hosting and being a pleasant tourist destination. Hey, you’ve got to call it as you see it.
A major tournament simply isn’t a major tournament without a wallchart. Don’t worry if you haven’t been able to source one, because our resident artistic genius David Squires has been to work and has your back. You know the pack drill: Print it out! Pin it up! Fill it in! Make a series of primary-school-level errors while filling out at least one of the final tables!
The opening match of Euro 2025 also kicked off proceedings in Group A. Finland shocked ten-woman Iceland thanks to Katariina Kosola’s second-half strike; Barry Glendenning was all over that, in the modern, fashionable, minute-by-minute style. As a result of that game in Thun, this is how the table looks before tonight’s match in Basel.
1. Finland P1 W1 D0 L0 F1 A0 Pts 3
2. Norway P0 W0 D0 L0 F0 A0 Pts 0
3. Switzerland P0 W0 D0 L0 F0 A0 Pts 0
4. Iceland P1 W0 D0 L1 F0 A1 Pts 0
Switzerland captain Lia Wälti’s knee has been playing up of late, but she’s fine to start. Sydney Schertenleib, the 18-year-old from Barcelona who is strongly tipped to become one of the next generation’s superstars, is on the bench.
Norway’s front line is led by Ada Hegerberg, who will be looking to score her first goal in a major international tournament since the 2015 World Cup (having spent five years in self-imposed exile, and missed nearly all of the 2023 World Cup through injury). The first-ever winner of the women’s Ballon d’Or will be assisted by this year’s runner up Caroline Graham Hansen, and current WSL player of the year Guro Reiten.
The teams
Switzerland: Peng, Beney, Calligaris, Stierli, Maritz, Riesen, Ivelj, Walti, Vallotto, Reuteler, Xhemaili.
Subs: Herzog, Wandeler, Crnogorcevic, Terchoun, Sow, Balleste, Mauron, Folmli, Pilgrim, Schertenleib, Lehmann, Bohi.
Norway: Fiskerstrand, Bjelde, Mjelde, Tuva Hansen, Lund, Risa, Caroline Hansen, Engen, Maanum, Hegerberg, Reiten.
Subs: Panengstuen, Woldvik, Ostenstad, Saevik, Kielland, Harviken, Ildhusoy, Terland, Jensen, Naalsund, Gaupset, Mikalsen.
Referee: Alina Pesu (Romania).
Preamble
The hosts take on a sleeping giant in Basel. Switzerland don’t have much of a record at the Euros: they’ve only qualified twice before, in 2017 and 2022, failing to get out of the groups on both occasions. Norway on the other hand are past masters: champions in 1987 and 1993, and runners-up four other times. But the word past is instructive there: Norway, erstwhile World and Olympic champions as well, aren’t the force they once were, having failed to get through the groups at the last two Euros – remember that 8-0 defeat to England three years ago? – and falling to their current Fifa ranking of 16th in the world, the joint-lowest mark in their history. So while Switzerland, ranked 23rd, may be very much second best historically, there’s not so much of a gap between the countries right now.
Having said all that, Norway will still fancy their chances this afternoon. They’ve beaten Switzerland twice already this year, in the Nations League, while the Swiss are six without a win in competitive matches. The hosts, who are without the injury-stricken Ramona Bachmann, will look to Arsenal midfielder Lia Wälti for inspiration; Norway have plenty of star power up front in Caroline Graham Hansen and Ada Hegerberg. Can the hosts get off on the good foot, or will Norway rediscover their mojo? Kick-off is at 8pm UK time. It’s on!
