England celebrations continue after Women’s Euro 2025 glory before Downing Street visit – live | Women’s Euro 2025
Key events
This is another good new movie title pitch from Tom Stephenson:
‘Blast it like Bronze’ would be appropriate
Just to put that news into context, Lucy Bronze was playing with a high level of pain. Not only did she play 598 minutes across the tournament but she scored England’s opening goal and the winning penalty – her first spot kick for England – against Sweden. She then went on to play all of the 120 minutes against Italy and 105 in the final, eventually being forced off with a separate injury. To top it all the final was her 140th cap for England, drawing level with Alex Scott for the third-highest capped England player of all time. Bronze also made her 36th major tournament appearance last night which broke the England record for most major tournament appearances. Icon.
Bronze fractured tibia in June
Lucy Bronze said in post-final interviews that she has played the entire tournament with a fractured tibia and her mother Diane has confirmed she suffered the injury in June. She told the BBC:
We knew all the way through. We’ve known all the time and originally somebody said, well, it can’t be a fracture because you wouldn’t be able to stand up but she said, ‘I’ve got high pain threshold and I can deal with pain’.
There’s lots of equipment and things that they’ve got, and obviously we knew the medics had checked it and they knew what they were doing and so does she, because she did a sports science degree.
She reads research papers and things. She knows about injuries. That’s how she can keep going. That’s why she knew how to tape her own leg. She knew that she felt her muscle and she thought, if I don’t tape this, I’m going to pull the muscles. I need to tape it now.
Lucy has this kind of, never say die. [She fractured it] in June. It didn’t matter how I felt, it’s what she was going to do [play].
She knows her own body and as I say, I trust the medical team. Chelsea knew about it. They all knew about it. We knew about it. I think a lot of the girls knew and not a whisper got out.
Absolutely love this from Will Padmore:
Surely the Bend it like Beckham sequel should use a Lioness in the title, Curl it like Kelly?
Any other novel new titles for the movie, email me.
Sometimes adrenaline during these matches can make you completely forget moments of the game the day after so here’s a reminder of how it all played out in Basel:
For the entire Euro 2025 Spain were behind for just four minutes. That came against Italy in the group stage. Every other game they scored first and while they may have conceded to level the scoreboard, they didn’t fall behind. Yet they have a silver medal, not a gold one. Football, eh.
Agyemang’s name will forever be heard in my head as ITV commentator Seb Hutchinson going crazy when she equalised against Italy so thank you for that one Daniel. Hello everyone, I’ve just about recovered from last night’s history-making win – shall we start with a fun fact? Incoming …
Righto, my watch is over – thanks all for your company and comments. Otherwise, all that remains is for me to pass over to Sarah Rendell, who’ll chill with you for the next few hours, and leave you with one eternal thought: Agyemaaaaaaaaaannnnnggggg!
“Another life-affirming tournament win for England’s women leaves us with plenty of subtexts to consider,” begins Mike Gibbons, “and perhaps the most obvious one relates to the frankly incredible Sarina Wiegman. If we can get calm, rational, talented, relatable, inspiring and qualified people into positions of power and influence, maybe we can have happier days like this more often. Also quickly wanted to mention Chloe Clutch-Kelly, who now has the rest of her life to mull over which one of her defining moments of a European Championship win is her favourite. What a choice, and she’s still only 27.”
Every word. Sarina for PM!
Bend it Like Beckham, with added Emma Hayes?
I’m in.
Joe Bunney’s Instagram story is worth your time. Featuring, in particular, Ella Toone, his partner, singing River Deep Mountain High.
Talking of Women in Football…
Another OG of women’s football writing is the late, great and much-missed Vikki Orvice. Here’s her husband, Ian Ridley:
I think of my Vikki, one of the founder members of @WomeninFootball, many times a day. Today, many more times. And I recall one of her favourite quotes, by Eleanor Roosevelt: “A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” #Lionesses
— Ian Ridley 💙 (@IanRidley1) July 28, 2025
BBC crunch some edifying numbers:
A peak live audience of 12.2 million watched England’s historic back-to-back Women’s Euro final on Sunday evening across all BBC platforms, making it the most watched television moment of 2025 across all TV broadcasters.
Online, the BBC Sport’s live page pulled in a staggering 11.4 million views as fans were gripped to see which country would come out on top.
The unprecedented victory which saw the Lionesses retain their title as European Champions peaked at 11.6 million on BBC One – 59% of all TV audiences – with an additional 4.2 million streams of the match on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.
Overall, the tournament was streamed 15.5 million times across BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website & app –20% of these were from 16-35’s, highlighting strong engagement from younger audiences throughout the competition. The BBC’s TV coverage alone also reached 22.1 million.
With digital clips and highlights of every match, BBC Sport social media accounts were front and centre with a mammoth 231 million total views across the tournament. 45% (104m) of those views came from TikTok (the highest proportion of any platform) and the audience on BBC Sport’s Women’s Football TikTok account over the last four weeks was 76% under 34-year-olds (39.3% under 24s, 36.7% 25-34).
Lucy Bronze strapping her own leg in the quarter final against Sweden was the most viewed clip from the tournament with a whopping 12.5million views across BBC Sport social channels (TikTok, Instagram and Facebook).
16 million unique users used the BBC Sport website and app to keep up to date with all the breaking news, and 10.1 million signed in accounts accessed Women’s Euro content across all of the BBC’s digital services (iPlayer, Sounds and BBC Sport website & app) an increase of 15% from Euro 2022.
On BBC Sounds, live commentary on Radio 5 Live and 5 Sports Extra had over 1.1 million – 122% increase from 2022.
Alex Kay-Jelski, Director of BBC Sport says: “This final was a landmark moment in sporting history. The kind of moment people will remember exactly where they were when they watched it. The incredible Lionesses took us on an emotional rollercoaster, and millions were hooked on BBC coverage from start to finish – from live streaming post-match analysis to millions following our live page and younger audiences in huge numbers on social media”.
“Just because the tournament stops there, our coverage doesn’t. We’ve got live WSL matches every match week, highlights, clips and more from next season, and you can follow everything on our Women’s Football TikTok.”
BBC Sport and ITV have also secured the rights to broadcast the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027, ensuring that the biggest tournament in women’s football remains free-to-air for UK audiences.”
“Tributes are rightly being paid to communities, clubs and coaches,” says Dan. “The dedication that I saw from those three Cs when my daughter played age-group football, representing the borough at London Youth Games, had so much fun and fresh air education along the way, then later progressing to her latest footie adventures at university (caveat – what happens on tour…) is what makes the England side what it is now, it seems to me. That’s how pyramids work I guess. I’m especially happy for everyone who can join in and feel they also made this tournament victory happen in that way.”
Yup, and the same applies to the writers who’ve slogged for years and decades without proper platform and support. Please allow me to refer you to the work of one such OG, Carrie Dunn – whom you can also enjoy in the pages of the Guardian.
Here’s the latest Football Weekly.
My sense is that it’ll 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.
“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:
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.
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.
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.
