England is gearing up to host the European Women’s Championship for the second time in the tournament’s rich 40-year history, and excitement is rife amongst football fans as the Women’s Euros returns to the country 17 years after it last had hosting duties in 2005 — with supporters able to soak up a second major tournament in as many years after Wembley played host to the Euro 2020 last summer.
So, with only around a month to go until the competition officially kicks off as England host Austria in the opening game at Old Trafford, and the outright winner’s market heating up with those looking for a bet on football, we have put together this guide of everything you need to know ahead of this year’s Women’s Euro. Read on to find out more!
Key dates for your diary
The competition gets underway on July 6th, with the opening ceremony taking place at Manchester United’s Old Trafford before England take on Austria in that aforementioned group stage match-up.
The groups will run until July 18th, with the quarter-finals taking place between 20-23 July before the semi-finals on 26-27 July. The final, which is already completely sold out, will take place at Wembley on July 31st.
Who’s taking part?
Expanded numerous times over the years, the Women’s Euros was enhanced to 16 teams in 2017 and that’s how many sides will be participating again in England. The 16 nations have been split into four groups, which are as follows;
Group A: England, Austria, Norway, Northern Ireland
Group B: Germany, Denmark, Spain and Finland
Group C: Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Portugal
Group D: France, Italy, Belgium, Iceland
Northern Ireland are the only side out of the 16 participants making their debut at the Women’s Euro 2022, while Portugal took the place of Russia in the finals after they were banned for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
What stadiums are being used?
As well as Wembley, which will host only the final, the other stadiums being used are; Brighton & Hove Community Stadium, Manchester City Academy Stadium, Stadium MK, New York Stadium in Rotherham, Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane, St Mary’s, Leigh Sports Village in Wigan and Old Trafford — which is only being used for the opening game.
There has been some controversy surrounding the stadiums picked to host games, with many believing that is disrespectful to the tournament, and women’s football in general that several of the venues have such low capacity. Most notably the Manchester City Academy, which can hold just 4,700 fans.
Will we see big attendances?
That leads us nicely onto our next point, as despite the criticism surrounding some of the chosen stadiums, this year’s tournament is still be tipped to break new boundaries — with a new record attendance for a Women’s Euro expected to be set, as up to 525,000 tickets of the 700,000 available are expected to be sold.
That would see the record attendance set by the Netherlands at the last edition of the tournament in 2017, when around 240,000 fans went to games over the course of the competition, almost doubled. So, there is certainly a lot of hype around this year’s renewal in England!
Who are the favourites?
And finally, the biggest question of all, who are the favourites in the Women’s EUROs odds? Well, the answer is Spain at 3/1! Believe it or not, despite Spain’s success in the men’s game, their women’s national team has never won the Women’s Euros. England, another side who have never won the tournament, are the second favourites at 9/2.
