The countdown is on for Women’s Euro 2025, set to kick off next year in Switzerland, where England’s Lionesses will aim to retain their European Championship crown.
While winning a major international tournament is an incredible feat, defending the crown brings an entirely different challenge. Sarina Wiegman guided England to their first-ever major title in 2022, but the Lionesses will face the test of retaining their trophy next summer in Switzerland.
Following their narrow defeat to Spain in the 2023 World Cup final, the Lionesses will arrive at the 14th edition of the competition, which began in 1984, with something to prove and a burning desire to reclaim their status as Europe’s best.
As anticipation builds, GOAL has a complete guide to the Women’s Euro 2025 group stage draw, including how it works, the teams involved, seeding details, and where you can watch the event live.
The draw for the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 final tournament is set to take place at 18:00 CET on Monday, December 16, at the Swiss Tech Convention Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland. During the event, the 16 competing nations will be divided into four groups, each consisting of four teams.
Host nation Switzerland will headline the tournament, joined by eight teams that earned direct qualification through the league stage and seven additional squads that secured their spots via the play-offs.
From the group stage, the top two teams in each group will advance to the knockout rounds, moving one step closer to continental glory.
The local 6 pm CET start time in Switzerland translates into the major territories around the planet:
The Women’s Euro 2025 draw ceremony will be streamed live online on UEFA’s official website, YouTube channel and other social media websites worldwide.
If you cannot watch the draw, GOAL will be running a live blog with updates.
The 16 teams that will make it to the final tournament include:
As alluded to above, Switzerland have automatically qualified for the group stage as hosts – they have been joined by reigning European champions, England. A strong lineup of teams already confirmed for Women’s Euro 2025 includes France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Germany, and Iceland.
The final seven teams will be decided through a two-stage qualification play-off format. The first round, featuring two-legged matchups, will be held on October 25 and 29, 2024. The second round will take place over two legs between November 22 and December 3, 2025.
The seeding for the draw is based on the UEFA coefficient rankings of the teams, which considers their performance in recent international competitions.
We have an early glimpse of how the four seeded pots will be arranged, with the rankings from the Women’s European Qualifiers league stage determining the placements. As hosts, Switzerland is automatically assigned to position A1 in Group A.
Sarina Wiegman’s England side was drawn in Pot 2 despite being reigning champions. Currently, Spain, Germany, and France are placed in Pot 1. Pot 2 includes Italy, Iceland, Denmark, and England, while the Netherlands are situated in Pot 3. The remaining spots are still to be determined.
The draw will include teams that have qualified through the league stages and playoff rounds, culminating in a total of 16 teams competing for the championship.
The draw kicks off with Pot 1, where teams are assigned the first position in each group. The first ball drawn places a team in Group B, position 1. The next ball assigns a team to Group C, position 1, followed by the final ball, which determines the team in Group D, position 1.
The process then moves to Pot 2, beginning with a ball drawn to assign a team to Group A. To decide the team’s exact position within the group (A2, A3, or A4), a ball is drawn from Pot A. This is repeated for each group: the second ball from Pot 2 assigns a team to Group B, with their position determined by a draw from Pot B, and so on through Groups C and D. This continues until all teams in Pot 2 have been allocated and their positions confirmed.
The same methodology is followed for Pot 3 and Pot 4, with teams being placed into groups and their positions finalized through subsequent draws.
If certain restrictions apply, such as “prohibited team matchups” as determined by UEFA’s Executive Committee, teams will still be drawn in the same sequence. However, any team that creates a clash will be placed in the next eligible group. For situations where potential clashes arise with the final teams in a pot, the teams will be drawn and assigned to the appropriate groups in compliance with the restrictions.
The UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 tournament is set to take place from July 2 to July 27, 2025. This prestigious event will be hosted in Switzerland, marking the first time the country has hosted the Women’s Euro since its inception.
The tournament will be played across eight venues located in various Swiss cities. Here are the confirmed host venues: