Euro 2025 live: England build up to opening game against France and Lauren James update – UK Times

Holders England kick off their Euro 2025 campaign against France in a heavyweight Group D clash in Zurich on Saturday.

In one of the matches of the whole group stage, the Lionesses begin their quest to retain European Championship title against a dangerous Les Bleues side packed with attacking talent.

And with the Netherlands and Wales completing the “group of death”, the pressure will be on both England and France from the start as they look to safely progress to the quarter-finals.

Sarina Wiegman’s side won the Euros three years ago before reaching the World Cup final in 2023, and have set themselves the challenge of defending their European crown this month.

The women’s Euro 2025 football championship is taking place in one of Europe’s most expensive countries: Switzerland.

Ahead of the first matches for both England and Wales, the English midfielder Georgia Stanway described the cost of living in Switzerland as “extremely high” – saying players are paying to help ensure friends and family can support them as they defend their European title in one of the world’s most expensive countries.

Lucy Bronze also said England can be the “best team in the tournament” if they turn up against France and combine what they are capable of both in attack and defence.

“I think we’re just excited to turn up to the tournament and play really well. We’ve got it in us to put on a really good performance.

“I think the last 12 months we’ve [had] some good performances defensively, then, good ones attacking wise, and then trying to mash everything together is always, that’s the dream isn’t it, for every team?

“And I think if we get that right, we could be the best team in the tournament, to be honest.”

England right-back Lucy Bronze insists the tough task of facing France first at Euro 2025 will ensure there are “no surprises” about what it will take for the Lionesses to defend their title in Switzerland.

Sarina Wiegman’s side open their tournament against 2022 semi-finalists France on Saturday in Zurich, then take on 2017 champions the Netherlands on Wednesday before their group stage concludes against newcomers Wales on July 13.

With France and the Netherlands also in the top 11 in FIFA’s global rankings, it is a more difficult immediate ask than England’s 2023 World Cup group, which included matches against Haiti and China, and arguably a far smaller margin for error in the event of a similarly uneven start this time.

England may be the defending European champions, but this very much isn’t a squad hoping that old approaches – or that reputation – carry them through. Sarina Wiegman was unequivocal on the eve of her team’s Euro 2025 opener against a dangerous France team.

“We call it a new England,” the manager said.

This intent obviously explains a lot of the ructions in the build-up to this tournament, since transition rarely comes without friction. It’s also just as well, as England do actually need something new.

They need to immediately find their feet, and actually start a tournament well.

Spain may be world champions but England are still to beat at Euro 2025. For the past three years, the Lionesses have had a target on their backs as European champions, though it has not always been easy to wear. So, at the start of the year, when Sarina Wiegman gathered her players for the start of their title defence, she began by telling them that there was nothing to defend. “It’s a new challenge,” Wiegman said. “We call it the ‘new’ England.”

But talk of the ‘new England’ may be more of a motivation tactic than a reality.

France’s captain Wendie Renard and all-time leading goalscorer Eugenie Le Sommer were dropped by head coach Laurent Bonadei before Euro 2025, leaving Les Bleues without their two most experienced players as they play England, Wales and Netherlands in Group D.

Renard and Le Sommer were left out by Bonadei for France’s Nations League games against Switzerland and Iceland before the Euros and did not return to make his 23-player squad.

Centre-back Renard, 34, has played 168 times for France and captained her country at last summer’s home Olympic Games in France, while Le Sommer has scored a record 94 goals in 200 appearances.

France have never won a major international tournament and Bonadei, who was assistant to Herve Renard at the 2023 World Cup and Olympics before taking the reins, defended his decision by saying it had been planned for some time.

Sarina Wiegman has told her players to not focus on defending their European title, but to instead challenge themselves to go out and win another major trophy at Euro 2025.

There are seven England players who will be making their first appearance at a major tournament and Wiegman, who has won the last two Euros with the Netherlands and the Lionesses, has looked to motivate her squad by drawing a line under their past achievements.

“We absolutely cherish what we have done before,” Wiegman said. “We’ll never forget it and it was the experience of a lifetime for us and for our families and also for the fans, but you have to move on and you have to be on top of it.

“Things are changing very quickly, things are developing very quickly, so we have to do too. And we came together, it was actually in February and then we came to, to this day we said, yeah, it’s a new challenge The approach was there anyway, but we call it the ‘new’ England.”

England captain Leah Williamson has revealed she held some “anxiety” ahead of leading England’s Euro 2025 campaign in Switzerland after being ruled out of the last World Cup with a serious knee injury.

Williamson captained the Lionesses to their historic victory at Euro 2022 three years ago but played no part in their run to the World Cup final in 2023 after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury just weeks before the tournament.

On the eve of England’s opening game against France in Zurich, Williamson said she was “excited” and “intrigued” to experience another Euros but admitted the pain of missing the World Cup had weighed on her mind before the tournament.

Sarina Wiegman has suggested Lauren James could start England’s opening match of Euro 2025 against France, or could at least play a significant role in the game, after the forward recovered from a hamstring injury to be fit for the tournament.

James played the final 30 minutes of England’s 7-0 send-off win against Jamaica on Sunday, in what was the Chelsea forward’s first appearance in three months, and Wiegman said the 23-year-old “can play more than that” in Zurich against France on Saturday night.

“She’s in a good place,” Wiegman said. “She came on the pitch in against Jamaica last week and she’s ready to get more minutes tomorrow.”

When asked if James could start, Wiegman was tight-lipped but replied: “I’m not going to give you the line-up, but she played 30 minutes last week, so she can play more than that, so I think that will say enough.”