By BBC (Sports) | Created at 2024-12-16 20:18:29 | Updated at 2024-12-16 22:47:09
2 hours ago
England and Wales will face each other at Euro 2025 after being drawn in what some are suggesting is the toughest group at next summer's tournament in Switzerland.
England, who were in pot two, and debutants Wales, who were in pot four, came out in Group D alongside France – the group's pot one team - and the Netherlands, who were one of the formidable sides lurking in pot three.
While England and Wales avoided world champions Spain and eight-time European champions Germany, hosts Switzerland would on paper have been the most favourable draw from pot one.
Wales may have been hoping not to face England, the highest-ranked side in pot two.
Sweden were the strongest team in pot three – according to the Fifa rankings, where they are fifth – but facing the Dutch will represent a significant challenge for both England and Wales.
England will open their Euro 2025 campaign against France in Zurich on 5 July, with Wales' women getting a first taste of major championship football on the same day against the Netherlands in Lucerne.
Manager Sarina Wiegman will lead England against her native Netherlands – who she led to victory at Euro 2017 and to the World Cup final two years later – in Zurich on 9 July.
On the same day, Wales will meet France at Arena St Gallen.
England and Wales then play each other in their group-stage finale on 13 July in St Gallen, with France taking on the Netherlands in Basel at the same time.
There are no minnows at the 16-team European Championship, but both England and Wales may feel the draw could have been kinder.
It is barely six months since England were beaten 2-1 at St James' Park by France – who have never won a major tournament - in Euro 2025 qualifying.
England exacted revenge in the return fixture four days later, winning 2-1 in Saint-Etienne, yet it was France who finished up topping Group A3 by a point.
England therefore qualified for next year's tournament as runners-up.
Wales last faced France in 2023 World Cup qualifying. The French won both games, 2-0 at home and 2-1 in Llanelli, as they topped the group ahead of Wales, who lost out on a tournament place in the play-offs.
The Netherlands are ranked 10th in the world by Fifa, which is actually one place higher than France.
They qualified for Switzerland by finishing second in Group A1 behind Italy, when the two nations had the same number of points.
England last faced the Dutch in the Nations League in December 2023, winning 3-2 at Wembley having lost 2-1 in Utrecht two months earlier.
Wales' most recent meeting with Netherlands was a 5-0 friendly defeat in 2017.
Rhian Wilkinson's team were the lowest-ranked country – 30th in the Fifa list – in the Euro 2025 draw, having overcome the Republic of Ireland in the qualification play-offs to end their long wait for a major tournament appearance.
England and Wales' most recent encounters were in 2019 World Cup qualifying.
After a goalless draw – which was a landmark result for Welsh women's football - in Southampton in April 2018, Phil Neville's England won 3-0 in Newport four months later.
England have had an inconsistent 2024 but will go to Switzerland with genuine hope of defending the title they won in such memorable fashion at Wembley in July 2022.
The first task will be to negotiate a path through the group stage, and Wiegman's team will need to find form from the outset in order to book a place in the quarter-finals.
For Wales, progress from the group would be a mighty achievement.
Wilkinson said before Monday's draw that she wanted to play "the best of the best" and, while the group could arguably have been even tougher, Wales' major-tournament novices will be going in at the deep end in Switzerland.
