England have successfully reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2025 after recovering from their opening defeat to France to finish as runners-up in Group D.
The Lionesses faced the danger of an early elimination after their 2-1 defeat to France but bounced back to impressively defeat the Netherlands 4-0 a few days later.
A 6-1 victory over Wales secured England’s place in the knockout stages – even if a strong France team go through as Group D winners after avoiding defeat to the Netherlands and winning 5-2.
England now know their path to the Euro 2025 final in Basel, and the Lionesses have actually landed on the opposite side of the draw as world champions Spain and cannot play the tournament favourites until the final.
Who do England play next?
After going through as Group D runners-up, England will play the winners of Group C, Sweden.
Sweden thrashed 10-player Germany 4-1 to finish as Group C winners and won all of their group games. There is a score to settle for Sweden, too, after England thrashed them 4-0 in the semi-finals of Euro 2022.
Their quarter-final will be played on Thursday 17 July with kick-off at 8pm BST (UK time). England will be back in Zurich, which is where the Lionesses lost to France and defeated the Netherlands in their first two matches. It’s also where Sweden won against Germany.
What is England’s route to the Euro 2025 final?
A potential advantage of going through as runners-up is that England are now on the opposite side of the draw as world champions Spain and they cannot face the tournament favourites until the final.
Should England win their quarter-final they will play either Norway or Italy in what appears to be a far more winnable semi-final. Norway won all three matches to top Group A while Italy were runners-up in Group B after beating Belgium, drawing with Portugal and losing to Spain.
On the other side of the draw, Spain will play hosts Switzerland in the quarter-finals. Should the world champions advance, they will play a heavyweight semi-final against either France or Germany.
