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Today’s Euro 2025 draw has me dreaming of the chocolate-covered strawberries I had last summer in Switzerland. It’s Emily Olsen here with Meg Linehan, Megan Feringa and Jeff Rueter — welcome to Full Time!

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Euro 2025 Draw

What to watch next summer

After watching the U.S. crash out of the World Cup in 2023 and then its rebirth in 2024, which culminated in an Olympic gold medal, it’s — dare I say — nice that next year will be more chill.

Coach Emma Hayes can put down her “emergency surgery” tools (her words, not ours) and spend genuine time experimenting with her roster and examining the young player pool without the challenge of a major tournament. That doesn’t mean, however, that next year will be totally devoid of international excitement, as the 2025 Women’s European Championship kicks off next July in Switzerland.

The Union of European Football Associations completed the group-stage draw today for Euro 2025, which will begin July 2, 2025, when the hosts take on Norway and Iceland faces off against Finland in the 16-team tournament. England will begin its title defense on July 5 against France. They will also face the Netherlands and first-time participants Wales, which is historic and layered.

Michael Cox shared an early outlook for England, which may have gotten a little fuzzier with the recent injury to Manchester City and England defender Alex Greenwood.

The teams will also compete for more than double the prize money from Euro 2022. More on that below …

A note from Switzerland

We sent Megan Feringa to Lausanne, Switzerland to endure the overwhelming aroma of cheese fondue billowing out from a blue-lit UEFA executive party to get us ready for next summer’s Euros. Here’s what she had to say after the draw:

What was the biggest takeaway? 

My initial reaction to this question was that it’s COLD, but there’s also plenty of Euros fever. England and Wales were drawn into the obvious Group of Death (appropriately also Group D), alongside Netherlands and France. England manager Sarina Wiegman not only has the opportunity to play the Netherlands — her home country, with whom she won the Euros in 2017 — but relish a first England-Wales derby at a women’s major tournament. Wales, by contrast, can attempt to upset the Euro 2025 waters at their first outing, an enticing legacy.

Off the field, UEFA agreed to increase the prize pot for Euro 2025 to €41 million ($43M), an increase of 156 percent compared to Euro 2022. At least 30 percent of that allocation is required to go to players. It still pales in comparison to the men’s game: Euro 2024 had a total prize fund of €331M, but for a federation that does not have any women among its senior directors and only one woman on its executive committee in Laura McAllister, this is a huge step in the right direction.

What are you most excited about for next summer’s tournament?

On a non-football note, hiking the Matterhorn Glacier Trail. On a football note, seeing the level of competition on display. While there are obvious picks for winners (Spain and England), the floor of women’s football has been lifted, meaning the gap to the top has never been smaller. Nations such as Italy have cut themselves as a force to be reckoned with, while historic giants such as Germany and even England have shown vulnerabilities in the past few months. This could be the season of the underdog. And who doesn’t love that?

Meg’s Corner

Should NWSL push back expansion?

The last time we heard anything about NWSL’s expansion to 16 teams was championship week, when commissioner Jessica Berman said the finalists were down to Cincinnati, Cleveland and Denver. One of those teams will join BOS Nation in 2026 — if all goes according to plan.

At this point, announcing a new expansion team by the end of the calendar year does not really make much sense from a messaging point of view. It’s just going to get lost in the holiday shuffle.

Still, time is also running thin for this incoming 2026 team, which will have less time compared to Boston to roll out a new team. However, I think all three of these potential expansion cities feel more prepared to formally launch than Boston. Sure, we’ve seen NWSL teams launched on short notice, but it’s not something to lean on as standard.

NWSL could announce in 2025, but there’s also a question of whether 2026 should even be on the table for expansion for the league. I discussed in the article about Boston’s lawsuit that the league is going to have to figure out how to exist in the same universe as the 2026 men’s World Cup happening in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. And that doesn’t mean just from a logistical standpoint. In terms of attention, in terms of coverage, in terms of eyeballs, it feels like an uphill battle for NWSL.

I don’t think that we can look at the recent numbers from MLS Cup, which were half that of the NWSL championship, as something that will carry over when NWSL is up against a World Cup. It’s not a like-for-like comparison. There are some bigger questions for the NWSL in terms of a strategy around expansion, where we’ve been hearing the same thing now for the better part of a year, but we still haven’t really seen any answers.

Notables

First glimpse of expanded NWSL free agency

When the initial NWSL free-agent eligibility list dropped in late August, it included a host of tantalizing players who could change the fates of many teams. Several clubs proactively locked those players down to new deals during the fall. Watchlist headliner and now-former Angel City defender Madison Curry has already signed with the Seattle Reign, too. With the new-look offseason fully underway, a few unsigned players are worth keeping a close eye on:

Kerolin missed extended stretches of the North Carolina Courage’s season after winning MVP in 2023. The Brazil international is still a decisive playmaker and, at 25, has a bright future for club and country. She could help pick locks in several teams’ midfields, including ones without dedicated attacking midfielders like the Chicago Red Stars, Angel City and Bay FC.

Another former Courage midfielder to track is Narumi Miura. The Japan international is among the league’s most dependable defensive mids and is tidy in possession and proactive at stopping opponents with the ball. Just about any team could use an enforcer like Miura, but her profile could boost teams including Chicago, KC Current and Seattle.

CBS’ Sandra Herrera does amazing work tracking league movement here.

Manchester United’s alarming pattern

Charlotte Harpur is our resident Manchester reporter, and I hope one day she can report on something less disheartening from Mancs. But today is not that day.

The club’s co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been consistent in his disinterest in the women’s side of the club regardless of the team’s performance on the field or its potential. Last week, Ratcliffe emphasized that point when he told United We Stand fanzine, “There’s only so much you can do and our focus has been on the men’s team. If not, you get spread too thinly. We need to sort out the main issue, the men’s team.”

Ratcliffe’s apathy toward the women’s team is made more alarming as his role in key decisions has impacted moves like the recent departure of sporting director Dan Ashworth, who listed delivering “a successful women’s team” as one of his key objectives.

United’s manager Marc Skinner said it was “hard” for him to hear Ratcliffe’s comments, but insisted they do not align with what he sees from the day-to-day activity of the ownership at large.

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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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