Sarina Wiegman's tournament magic faces its toughest test yet at Euro 2025 amid absent Lionesses icons, England's 'group of death' and questions over her management

Mary Earps' retirement and Millie Bright's withdrawal has increased scrutiny on the Dutch coach, who is bidding for a third European title in a row

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  New scrutiny

  When Wiegman spoke to the media at the start of last month, having just announced her squad for the Euros, she found herself facing questions unlike any she has before in the role - questions about her management style and whether that is to blame for England losing so many high-profile names ahead of their title defence.

  A week prior, Mary Earps had announced her shock international retirement, supposedly after being told that she was going to be the Lionesses' second-choice goalkeeper at the tournament. The Telegraph reported that the 32-year-old responded to that by saying 'she would retire rather than be back-up'. Wiegman then 'accepted her resignation with immediate effect'. In a statement announcing the news publicly, the England boss said: "I had hoped that Mary would play an important role within the squad this summer, so of course I am disappointed."

  Days later, Fran Kirby revealed, more understandably, that she too would be calling time on her England days, having not been selected for the Euro 2025 squad. The hat-trick was completed by Millie Bright, who withdrew from selection to prioritise her mental and physical well-being, though the Telegraph noted 'there are rumours that Bright had also considered retirement, that she too had been told she is no longer guaranteed a starting place and did not want to travel as a result'.

  "There is no crisis," Wiegman said last month. "I can assure [you] that the training sessions were really good last week. I didn't see anything [to suggest] that there were no connections within the team. I am really happy [with] where we are right now."

Women's EURO

Sweden
Sweden
17 Jul 202515:00

England
England
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  Falling short

  It adds another layer to the pressure that Wiegman was already going to be under at the Euros. That comes naturally given England's status as defending champions, but recent shortcomings have only intensified the scrutiny. The Lionesses have by no means been consistently poor over the last two years, but there have been some surprisingly disappointing results in that time which has led to them falling short of certain goals.

  England went into the 2023-24 Nations League campaign with one big aim: To secure a berth at the Olympic Games for Great Britain's women's team. However, they failed to do that, owing to a shock defeat in Belgium and another loss in the Netherlands, that not as surprising but coming in poor fashion.

  There were shortcomings again when the Lionesses went into their Euro 2025 qualifying campaign, too, which they ended in second-place after winning just three of their six games. That meant they were in Pot Two for the tournament draw and, as such, landed in the 'group of death' alongside France, the Netherlands and Wales.

  Then came the 2025 Nations League, in which England again failed to top their group and reach the competition's finals. It was, again, a big goal for the team and victory over Spain in February looked to have significantly boosted their chances of achieving it, only for them to suffer defeat in the reverse fixture after another loss in Belgium and a draw with Portugal. Once more, while it wasn't an alarmingly bad campaign, it fell short of the standards set.

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  Fast start imperative

  Wiegman has to ensure the level of her team is much higher as the Euros prepare to get under way, because there will be little room for error in Group D. England's campaign starts on Saturday against France, continues on Tuesday against the Netherlands and, in the group-stage, concludes with a clash with neighbours Wales. It's straight in at the deep end.

  Of course, a second-placed finish would also see the Lionesses through to the quarter-finals, but it's also important to note that whoever ends up in that spot is incredibly likely to face Spain in the first knockout round, presuming the world champions top a group that features Italy, Belgium and Portugal, as they will be heavily favoured to do.

  There is also the incredibly real possibility of a group-stage exit. All of France, England and the Netherlands will head to Switzerland believing they can win this tournament - and yet, at least one is going to fall at the very first hurdle.

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  'Best Lionesses team ever'

  Those are the negatives. There are, however, still a lot of positives. After all, the Lionesses still have one of the best squads at this tournament. Hannah Hampton, Lucy Bronze, Leah Williamson, Alex Greenwood, Keira Walsh, Georgia Stanway, Lauren James and Lauren Hemp could all be considered among the very best players in their positions in the world, with four of those names among six that just completed an unbeaten domestic season at Chelsea, while Williamson is one of five in the England squad who helped Arsenal beat Barcelona in the Champions League final last month.

  All of those names, too, were either involved in England's Euro 2022 triumph, their run to a first-ever Women's World Cup final, or both. Indeed, there are 13 players in this summer's squad who became European champions with the Lionesses three years ago, and 14 who were 90 minutes away from World Cup glory.

  "Sarina Wiegman has got the most experienced team that England women have ever had going into a major tournament," Karen Carney, who represented the Lionesses 144 times in her storied career, said on ITV last week. "If you go through it player for player, caps that they've won, and the medals domestically and internationally they've won, this is our best team that we've had going into any major tournament, in my opinion."

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  Tournament magic

  And there is the magic of Wiegman which, while questioned at times over the last two years, seems to come to the fore especially at major tournaments. In 2022, she didn't make a single change to her starting line-up, something that had never been done at the Euros before, and something that was criticised on occasion. Yet, the formula worked perfectly and delivered the Lionesses' first major title.

  Then, in 2023, Wiegman showed a different side of her top-class management when, after England began with two underwhelming performances in 1-0 wins over Haiti and Denmark, she switched to a 3-5-2 set-up that no outsider had seen this team play in before. Again, it was central to the Lionesses' successful navigation of the knockout stages, even if they fell just short in the final.

  “I think it’s her directness,” Jess Carter, likely to start the Euro 2025 opener at left-back, explained previously when asked about Wiegman's success. “[She and her staff] have a way they want to play and we all get on board with that. It makes it easier going out onto the pitch. When we are trying to get different players from different squads to gel together, she’s like, ‘This is how we want to play, these are our values’. It’s that directness. She knows what she wants and she lets us know that really well.”

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  Silence the doubters

  England and Wiegman are going to have to bring all of that quality to the table immediately in Switzerland. The Lionesses endured a tricky test when they began their Euro 2022 campaign, narrowly beating a strong Austria side 1-0, and they rode their luck at times when their 2023 Women's World Cup began with a narrow win over Haiti, courtesy of Stanway's penalty. Neither was convincing. Saturday, against France, has to be.

  But for every reason to be concerned about England's title defence, there is a reason to be optimistic. The Lionesses have the talent and the experience to enjoy success in Switzerland and, crucially, a world-class coach in charge of maximising it all.

  "In Sarina we trust, is what we always say, and at the major tournaments, she's delivered," Carney said last week. "There's no one better for us at the moment." This summer, Wiegman has the chance to show that yet again while proving the doubters wrong.