England Women learn their fate for Euros next summer after draw – as Sarina Wiegman’s side are handed tricky opening tie to begin title defence

England women will begin their title defence of the European Championships next summer and have been handed a difficult draw against debutants Wales, as well as France and Netherlands.

The 2022 champions will travel to Switzerland where they will face France for their opening match on Saturday, July 5.

They will then play Netherlands on July 9 before their last group stage game will be against Wales on July 13.

‘I think we have a very interesting, exciting group,’ Wiegman assessed. ‘It’s a bit the same as the Nations League groups – it’s very tough. You just have to take it as it comes and be ready on 5 July. That’s how I approach it.

‘I’m confident in these players. As we’ve seen, we have some very good, younger players coming in and having some playing minutes. Everyone goes to a tournament to win it and so do we. I’m confident in my team and excited about next summer.’

Sarina Wiegman’s team famously won the Euros in 2022 at Wembley, and that tournament drew record-breaking crowds as 365 million people tuned in or attended games across the month.

Sarina Wiegman’s side are reigning champions after their historic triumph at Wembley in 2022

They begin with a clash against France, who the Lionesses have played twice this year

England were drawn in pot two after finishing second behind France in their Nations League group, which also acted as a Euros qualifying competition.

This meant that they were destined to be drawn against either Switzerland as hosts (23rd), France (11th), world champions Spain (second) or Euros runners-up Germany (third), who were all positioned above the Lionesses in the FIFA world rankings.

England have played France twice this year, losing 1-2 at home and winning 2-1 away. The Netherlands will also pose a challenge, with England coach Wiegman lifting the title with them in 2017, making her the only manager to coach two different nations to the title.

Wales, ranked 30th in the world, will play Netherlands on July 5, France on July 9.

Rhian Wilkinson’s team made history by securing their spot earlier this month, knocking out the Republic of Ireland as they qualified for their first ever major tournament.

And Wiegman said she is ‘looking forward’ to that match-up. She said: ‘First of all, congratulations to them – they’ve qualified for the first time in their history which is, of course, amazing.’

‘There’ll be some rivalry in a nice when we go out on the pitch. I’m looking forward to that game.’

Wiegman (second right) admitted the draw was ‘very tough’ but also ‘very interesting’

Switzerland is hosting the Euros next summer, from July 2 to 27, 2025 with eight venues across the country hosting the tournament and more than 720,000 tickets available for the finals.

The 16 teams who qualified for the Euros were split up into four groups, with each team to play each other in a round-robin format before entering the knockout rounds, where the top two teams of each group will go straight through to the quarter-finals.

The final is scheduled for Sunday, July 27, at 5pm (UK time), and will be played at St. Jakob-Park in Basel – Switzerland’s largest football stadium with a capacity of 35,689.