October 24 – France, Poland, Switzerland and a quartet of Nordic countries will vie to land the hosting rights for the 2025 Women’s Euro, European governing body UEFA confirmed on Thursday.
The four bidders submitted dossiers by the October 12 deadline to enter the bidding race for UEFA’s flagship women’s tournament. In January, UEFA’s executive committee will appoint the hosts.
The Nordic quartet includes Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden. All these countries have hosted the tournament in the past, proving their commitment to – and tradition in – the women’s game. Norway and Sweden staged the European championship in 1987 and 2013 respectively and co-hosted the tournament in 1997. The Danish welcomed the finals in 1991 whereas Finland were hosts in 2009.
France, Poland and Switzerland have never staged the European Championship before. In 2019, the French hosted the 2019 Women’s World Cup and the bumper edition led FIFA to expand the global finals to 32 teams. For now, the European championship features16 teams, a format that allows medium-sized countries like Switzerland to still organise the tournament.
In the run-up to the January decision, UEFA representatives will visit the bidding nations and sites. The 2025 hosts will have a tough act to follow after England’s staged a record-breaking competition last summer. It was the best-attended women’s euro ever with 574,875 fans in the stands across 31 matches and a record global audience of 365 million.
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