Women’s Euro 2025 | Ben Haines and Jenna Schillaci preview the tournament…

UEFA Euro 2025 gets underway on Wednesday (2 July) when Finland take on Iceland at Stockhorn Arena in Thurn.

Sixteen of the best nations will embark on Switzerland for the 14th edition of the tournament, with it set to be another summer of exciting football.

But who are the tournament’s dark horses? Who are the players to look out for? And which team will take home the trophy at the end of July?

We posed former captain and Club legend Jenna Schillaci and SPURSPLAY Reporter Ben Haines with those exact questions ahead of the start of the European Championship…

Jenna Schillaci

Thoughts on this summer’s tournament?

“I think we’re in for a hugely competitive summer of football. The standard across the board has risen so much, largely thanks to the significant investment we’ve seen over the past few years in the women’s game - across all nations. Last time out, the Lionesses changed the face of football in England forever with that historic win and they’ll no doubt be hungry to defend their title. We’ve seen some shock decisions ahead of the Euros with the experienced players Wendie Reinhard and Eugenie Le Sommer being left out of the France squad and, of course, there will be no Millie Bright, Mary Earps or Fran Kirby for England, who are three very experienced players that have made a huge impact. Although what’s particularly exciting is the new generation of young players coming through, many of them who could make a real impact on this stage. It’s shaping up to be a brilliant tournament.”

Dark horses?

“Switzerland would be one as they’re on home soil and they will have plenty of support, we saw the impact that had on England three years ago, so you want to see the home nation do well and go as far as possible. I would also say France could be ones to watch, they have a new manager in Laurent Bonadei, but he has left out some of their most experienced players in the squad. So it will be interesting to see how that decision plays out for them, but I feel they have a good weapon in Kadidiatou Diani in attack, 112 caps, 30 goals, so she will have to step up and be the leader. France’s record in 2025 is six games won, drawn once and lost zero, so he has experimented with his squad and they enter this summer in exciting form.”

Players to look out for?

“We obviously have some of our own to look out for, I’m especially looking forward to seeing how Olga [Athinen] and Eveliina [Summanen] do with Finland but also Amanda [Nilden] with Sweden, Luana [Buhler] with Switzerland and Lize [Kop] with the Netherlands. One other name to look out for is Claudia Pina from Spain, a young, deadly number nine, she was the top goalscorer in the Champions League, devasting in attack for Spain, so with the players behind her, it could be her time to shine on the international stage.”

Ben Haines

Thoughts on this summer’s tournament?

“I think this tournament is going to be really interesting because there are a lot of strong teams who have grown, in terms of their infrastructure and quality, since 2022. The infrastructure has moved forward for a number of nations, it has been significant in the way that perhaps the Lionesses were very fortunate that they moved early, they grew very quickly. Obviously the Women’s game has moved slower than we would have liked, but the way things moved forward for the Lionesses which was expedited by going deep in various tournaments, no least the semi-final of the World Cup in 2019, it then meant there was a bigger focus and they were able to move forward quicker. So, in terms of the tournament itself, I think we will have a high-quality tournament and I feel there will be far more names to get our teeth stuck into and for us to get excited about. You will see, particularly in the group stage, a volume of quality and a competitiveness that is unparalleled so far in terms of the Women’s Euros to date.

“From a Spurs point of view, we have players scattered across different groups, which is exciting. From an England point of view, it’s arguably the toughest group with the Netherlands and France, but I think you’re also looking at Group B, as two of what you’d usually describe as the ‘group of death’. But looking around the whole tournament, this will not be one where you go and pick one or two teams in every group and feel like they’re guaranteed to go through, I think there will be some big upsets along the way.”

Dark horses?

“I think Norway are a really interesting side. They’ve got a number of brilliant players who you think could cause damage to pretty much any team in the tournament, including Caroline Hansen, Ingrid Engen, Guro Reiten and Celin Bizet, who we all know from her time at Spurs. However, their manager, Gemma Grainger, is interesting. She’s the former manager of Wales and she took the role at Norway at an interesting time, so it was a bold decision to leave Wales, but it looks like they’ve really bought into what she’s trying to achieve. So, I feel Norway could be a fun team to watch. I also think, in Group D, the Netherlands have a number of fantastic players as well. If you look at that squad, similar to the men’s national side, we always talk about players in their team and they’re stereotypical dark horses, but I think they have such wonderful talent in their team that it is hard to overlook them.”

Players to look out for?

“Our five Spurs players, of course. So, in Group A, Olga and Eveliina of Finland and Luana of Switzerland as well, but we also have Lize for the Netherlands and Amanda of Sweden. In terms of the other sides, Guro Reiten of Norway is a really fascinating player, she makes things tick. In Group C, I think you’re realistically looking at Germany to go through, and if you were to pick someone out of their team, it would probably be Klara Buhl as we all know the quality she possesses, an exciting player to look out for. Then, from Group D, there’s so much quality across the four teams, Viviane Miedema is incredible, then look out for Jess Fishlock and Sophie Ingle for Wales, Marie-Antoinette Katoto is amazing and, for England, take your pick, we’ve so many fantastic players.”