Euro 25: where Europe's elite women put the men's best clubs in the ratings shade
The women's Euros came of age in 2022, with booming audiences. The 2025 iteration starts next week in Switzerland, and will vie for attention with FIFA's Club World Cup.
The 2025 Women’s EUROs kick-off next Tuesday in Switzerland with Iceland playing Finland in Thun before the hosts play Norway in Basel. That possibly sounds slightly underwhelming even to neutral followers of the women’s game and it’s certainly the case that Group A, the section where the four teams mentioned are competing, is the weakest in the tournament. It’s highly unlikely any of that quartet will bother the semi-finals.
What is likely, indeed close to certain, is that the business end of Euro 2025, and especially the final, will attract a bigger live global audience than any match at the ongoing men’s Club World Cup (CWC), which FIFA plonked into this summer’s schedule to clash with the Euros and other international events.
The last iteration of the women’s Euros, in 2022, attracted a cumulative global audience of 365m people, with 50m watching as England beat Germany in the final.
According to UEFA: “This means there were more than double the number of live viewers compared to the 2017 edition (178 million) and 214% more live viewers than in 2013 (116 million).”
It’s not clear at this stage whether FIFA, via their global broadcast partner DAZN (funded by Saudi Arabia) or any of the sub-licensed channels, will publish detailed viewing figures for the 2025 CWC.
One Chelsea match got as many as 1.5m people watching in the UK on Channel 5. In many countries, including in the CWC’s host country, the USA, the most-watched CWC games so far have attracted “TV” audiences of fewer than 1m people.
Today’s piece, by way of a preview to Euro 2025, is split into two sections, starting with a view from inside Switzerland about how it’s catching local attention (or not), plus some of the other pre-event talking points.
Then we’ll move onto a breakdown of the four groups, looking at their make-ups and predicting how the tournament will unfold. And then we’ll have a brief look at the evolution of the women’s Euros since the Millennium as the tournament has moved from being essentially fringe to a mainstream major event.
The view from Switzerland
The final countdown!
I live in Nyon, Switzerland, and when I tell people, I’m often met with “Huh, where’s that?”. I reply that Nyon is a small town with a population of around 25,000 and it sits on the shores of Lake Geneva, 20km from Geneva itself. It’s the location of the HQ of UEFA, which is how I came to be here, although it’s been a while since I worked for the governing body.
I think most people across Europe, if asked where Euro 2025 is taking place, would be as likely to know as are familiar with Nyon. The build-up has been, frankly, slow, and indeed almost invisible. There’s been very little noticeable hype here, or colour or any building of atmosphere.
Yet from Tuesday the 14th edition of UEFA Women’s Euro (its official title) will start, with matches to be staged in Basel, Bern, Geneva, Zurich, St Gallen, Lucerne, Thon and Sion.
As a football fan, I’ve been talking about the tournament a lot recently to friends and family. Their response has been underwhelming, even for those who live in the host cities.
Just last week, a friend sent me a couple of pictures of giant footballs she’d spotted in Geneva (photo of one below), with the caption: “Finally”.
FC Luzern (U-15 Boys) 7 Switzerland Women 1
As the tournament approaches, there has been an increase in media coverage. But on 25 June, Switzerland were stealing the headlines for the wrong reasons after they were defeated 7-1 by an Under-15 boys’ team.
For those that missed it, Switzerland's women's national team conceded seven goals in a behind-closed-doors friendly against FC Luzern's U-15s - a result initially intended to remain under wraps according to Swiss reports.
Swiss outlet Blick noted that the match saw Switzerland's women's team use 28 players, with their third-choice goalkeeper playing for the U-15 side in one half. Four players were absent, including the Swiss captain and Arsenal star, Lia Wälti.
The result, therefore, was clearly far less important than the preparation for the upcoming tournament, with midfielder Leila Wandeler telling Blick: "The result didn't matter. For us, it was about testing our game principles.”
But it wasn’t perhaps the best look.
What’s the cost as Switzerland play hosts?
The country where I live is not cheap, obviously. Zurich, Lausanne and Geneva are the three most expensive cities in the world for cost of living, with Switzerland having five of the top 10 most expensive cities.
A cappuccino costs around 6 CHF which at the current exchange rate is around £5.45. Ouch! For those budding economists out there, who often use the Big Mac Meal as a price indictor, a Big Mac Meal in Switzerland is around 18 CHF – about £16.50. Ouch again. An average dinner at an average restaurant (think a simple pizza or pasta) will cost around 30 CHF (£28).
So, for any travelling fans not earning Swiss Francs, they will very likely get a fright when they pay their bill for their morning coffee or pre-match meal. It’s therefore not that surprising to read that some of the England women players have dug into their own pockets to support their families with their travel and accommodation costs.
Free match-day travel
On the positive side, anyone with a match ticket can travel for free on public transport across Switzerland on the day of their game. So, despite Switzerland being one of the most expensive countries in the world, I can attest that Switzerland is also one of the most beautiful and that the trains are sublime.
To any travelling fans, if you’ve got time to kill before your match, I recommend you take advantage of the free transport and sit back, relax and enjoy the punctual, comfortable, clean trains whilst you gaze at spectacular snow-capped mountains and stunningly clear, freshwater lakes.
And last but not least… did you know?
The official mascot for the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 is Maddli (below), a Saint Bernard puppy. The name "Maddli" is inspired by Madeleine Boll, the first licensed female football player in Switzerland.
Sally Freedman is an award-nominated author with her memoir about sexism - Get Your Tits Out For The Lads. Sally took a Masters in business (sport management) at Griffith University in Australia and has since worked at Melbourne City Football Club, Wellington Phoenix Football Club, the 2015 Asian Cup, the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, and UEFA. Sally has worked in marketing, communications, fan engagement, protocol, ticketing, and spectator services.
Next up, a breakdown of the four groups and how the tournament will likely pan out.