England’s position in women’s football has changed dramatically in the past decade. It was 10 years ago that the Lionesses reached a first World Cup semi-final, kickstarting a run of five successive major tournaments in which they would reach the last four. That streak saw them steadily develop into genuine contenders for the top titles, to the point that they broke through the glass ceiling in 2022 by winning the European Championship on home soil.
But it’s not just the senior team, which also reached the World Cup final a year after that triumph, that has become a regular in the latter stages of tournaments, as the Lionesses’ success has also coincided with some great results for the youth teams. After 2023 saw the Under-17s reach the semi-finals of their Euros, 2024 was a huge year for the Young Lionesses, with the U17s reaching a Euros final and a World Cup semi-final while the U19s also reached the final four of their Euros.
As the senior England team prepares to defend its European title in Switzerland this summer, this flurry of positive results in the youth set-up has understandably got fans excited about the future of the side as well as the present. They are right to be, because these U17 and U19 sides contain some wonderfully promising talents – and Zara Shaw, a stalwart at centre-back at last year’s U17 World Cup run, is prime among them.