England v Sweden live: Kick-off time, team news and latest updates for Lionesses’ Women’s Euro 2025 quarter-final – UK Times

Sarina Wiegman now has the most wins by any manager at the Women’s Euros. Victory over Wales was her 14th at the tournament as coach of Netherlands and England, overtaking ex-Germany boss Christina Theune-Meyer.

“First we recover from this and then we go again against Sweden in Zurich,” Wiegman said after the 6-1 win. “I’m very happy, as far as I know everyone came fit out of the game, now we have three days to recover.

“When you lose the first game there’s massive urgency to win the other two. [There’s been] a lot of learning with this team, and it brought us together.”

England captain Leah Williamson joked she will not “banish Abba” in the dressing room ahead of Thursday’s Euro 2025 quarter-final clash with Sweden in Zurich.

The Swedish band’s “Does Your Mother Know” became a key track on the Williamson-curated dressing room playlist during England’s triumphant Euro 2022 campaign, where they beat Sweden 4-0 in the last four – a defeat made “easier to bear” by the use of the song, according to Abba’s own Bjorn Ulvaeus.

“I don’t think that will be on the playlist, but it worked in 2022 so I don’t want to banish Abba completely.”

Fridolina Rolfo made her first start of the tournament in the 4-1 win over Germany after fully recovering from her injury. Smilla Holmberg was a surprise inclusion at right back but impressed and could keep her place.

Possible Sweden XI: Falk; Holmberg, Björn, Eriksson, Andersson; Angeldahl, Bennison; Rytting Kaneryd, Asllani, Rolfö; Blackstenius

Georgia Stanway on England’s quarter-final against Sweden, who the Lionesses defeated 4-0 in the Euro 2022 semi-finals.

“We’ve got a lot of experience against them. Obviously they’re tough, they’re physical, they’re more direct. I’m not sure we’ve faced that so far in our group, but we do have a lot of experience against them. We review this game and we’ve got a few days’ rest and then we’ll do what we can to put ourselves in the best possible position.

“It’s tournament football. I think anything can happen in 90 minutes. I think we just need to continue where we’ve been. If we have the intensity that we had against the Netherlands, if we press the way that we pressed tonight, if we win the ball back as much as we did today. We can only control what we can do.”

“I think we’re in a good place,” Sarina Wiegman said of England’s 6-1 win over Wales. That might not just apply to the performance.

Although this was the biggest win of Euro 2025 so far, the victory that might have been most significant for England on the night was perhaps in Basel. France’s 5-2 comeback win against the Netherlands ensured Wiegman’s team finished second, to go into what looks like the more forgiving side of the draw.

Sarina Wiegman named an unchanged team ahead of the Wales game, for the first time since the 2023 World Cup, and the England head coach may decide to keep with a winning formula.

Ella Toone has been in impressive form since returning to the midfield while Lauren James has looked more comfortable playing on the right wing. England have also been more solid defensively since Alex Greenwood and Jess Carter swapped positions in the back four.

Beth Mead and Aggie Beever-Jones both scored against Wales after coming off the bench, so England have plenty of options on the bench should Wiegman decides she needs an impact later in the game.

Possible England XI; Hampton; Bronze, Williamson, Carter, Greenwood; Walsh, Stanway, Toone; James, Russo, Hemp

Ella Toone stopped and sent a kiss towards the sky. In moments such as scoring for your country at a major tournament, the most important people can become those who are not there. Toone is 25 and is already appearing at her third major tournament for England. But it’s also the first she has played in since the loss of her father Nick to prostate cancer last September. Another goal at Euro 2025 was dedicated to the memory of her most reliable supporter.

Her grief, though, has not disappeared. Every day is different and being away from home at a major tournament can present its own challenges. But when Toone is with England she can rely on the support and guidance of Beth Mead, who lost her mother June to ovarian cancer in January 2023 – just six months after winning the Euros. This is Mead’s first tournament since losing a parent, too, and the forward also pointed to the sky as she scored in England’s 6-1 win over Wales.

Sarina Wiegman on the phrase that England can’t stop talking ahead of their Euro 2025 quarter-final with Sweden.

“Proper England is who we are and what we want to show and of course that has to do with our tactics, how we want to play, but also our behaviours, how we want to support each other together, work really hard and of course play to our strengths too, so when we do that we think the chance of winning is the highest.”

For a Wales team who have brought so much passion, colour and pride to Euro 2025, this was no way to go home. As one, Wales stood in front of their Red Wall in St Gallen, and there is certainly no disgrace in losing to England, France and the Netherlands in what was their major tournament debut.

But England had to be ruthless, and a 6-1 win to finish the group stage sends a message. “Sweden should be scared,” said Ella Toone, and this performance showed why as Sarina Wiegman’s side returned to their destructive best with the biggest win of Euro 2025 so far.

Once England have reached the knockout stages of a major tournament under Sarina Wiegman they have only ever gone on to reach the final, winning the Euros in 2022 and finishing runners-up at the World Cup in 2023.

They have actually trailed both quarter-finals they have played under Wiegman, however, first to Spain at Euro 2022 and then against Colombia at World Cup 2023.

Against Spain, Ella Toone equalised with five minutes to go before Georgia Stanway scored the winner in extra time. Alessia Russo fired England to the World Cup semi-finals in 2023.