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. If England line up for their Euro 2025 opener with the same team that started their send-off friendly against Jamaica, only one player, in goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, will be making their first major tournament appearance. If England are unchanged against France, there will be 10 players starting who became European champions three years ago, nine if Lauren James is fit to start.
But there is still an air of change around the Lionesses. Wiegman has repeatedly said the holders and World Cup finalists are a team in “transition”. That may not be the case when viewing the line-up, but there are new faces in the England squad, with seven players who are appearing at their first major tournament. A major goal for Wiegman at the start of the year was to make the Lionesses unpredictable heading into their title defence, capable of surprising France, the Netherlands and Wales in their ‘group of death’.
“We talk with the technical staff a lot about scenarios,” Wiegman said this week. “We train some scenarios with the team, that we keep in our pocket, that when it’s necessary in the games we can try. Now, also, we have players that can surprise too when they come on, because in every line we have different players that bring different things to the game, which might supply a different dynamics. So all of a sudden when we sub, that might cause some problems for our opponents.”
Three years ago, Wiegman’s changes from the bench were a key part of their Euros triumph – Alessia Russo and Ella Toone catapulting themselves into household names through their impactful role as super-subs. At the last World Cup, after retirements and amid injuries and suspensions, England did not have the same depth. Over the past two years, Wiegman has often been criticised for showing too much loyalty to certain players. “People sometimes say I don’t change,” Wiegman said this week.
That has been true to an extent, at least in terms of how little rotation there has been. There was very little rotation immediately after the World Cup and in last year’s Euro qualifiers. Then there was a shift at the start of the Nations League. Grace Clinton and Jess Park started a run of games in midfield. Aggie Beever-Jones got more minutes, and then a hat-trick when starting at Portugal. Wiegman had already decided that Hampton was her new No 1.
Wiegman wanted at least two options for each midfield and attacking position, and should be confident of now having that across her midfield and forward line. James – who Wiegman said can “play more” than her 30 minutes against Jamaica on Sunday, and will surely start whenever she is ready to – adds to the conundrum, albeit one that Wiegman wanted. “There is a lot of competition going on,” Wiegman said.
England’s strength in depth – and how they would like to use it – was evidenced in the send-off win against Jamaica. Beever-Jones came off the bench to score her fifth England goal in eight appearances, while James and Chloe Kelly provided an assist each. England scored seven times, with six different goalscorers.
And the Lionesses will need some unpredictability as they prepare for three different games, against three tough teams in France, the Netherlands and Wales, and that’s before even getting to the knockouts. “Things are changing very quickly, things are developing very quickly, so we have to do too,” Wiegman said on the eve of the France match. There has always been the conviction, but Wiegman once again has the options and the ammunition to make those changes a reality.
