England face a tough challenge to defend their European Championship crown after being drawn in the most challenging group for Euro 2025.

The Lionesses face France, Netherlands and Wales in Group D in Switzerland.

Click here for all the latest reaction to the draw and an analysis of England’s group and their possible route to the final.

A goalless draw against Sweden in Gothenberg was enough for the Lionesses to secure direct qualification to next year’s tournament.

Defending champions England finished second in Group A3 after earning a hard-fought point against the Swedes, thereby avoiding a play-off scenario for qualification.

Wales also qualified for their first major women’s tournament, beating Republic of Ireland 3-1 on aggregate in their December play-off to secure a spot at the Euros.

When is the Women’s Euros? Key dates

The 16-team tournament starts on July 2 and finishes on July 27.

Where is the Women’s Euros being held? Host cities and stadiums

Women’s Euro 2025, the 14th edition of the tournament, will be held in Switzerland. The Swiss beat off competition from Poland, France and jointly Denmark/Finland/Norway/Sweden.

Euro 2025 will take place across eight venues:

• St. Jakob-Park, Basel

• Stadion Wankdorf, Bern

• Stade de Genève, Geneva

• Stadion Letzigrund, Zürich

• Arena St.Gallen, St.Gallen

• Allmend Stadion Luzern, Lucerne

• Arena Thun, Thun

• Stade de Tourbillon, Sion

England’s Euro 2025 qualifying results

Friday, April 5
England 1 Sweden 1, Wembley

Tuesday, April 9
Republic of Ireland 0 England 2, Aviva Stadium

Friday, May 31
England 1 France 2, St James’ Park

Tuesday, June 4
France 1 England 2, Stade Geoffroy-Guichard

Friday, 12 July
England 2 Republic of Ireland 1, Carrow Road

Tuesday, 16 July
Sweden 0 England 0, Gamla Ullevi

What teams will play in Euro 2025?

Switzerland qualified automatically as hosts while France, Germany, Italy and Spain booked their places by winning their Nations League groups. The other automatic qualifiers are Nations League group runners-up Denmark, England, Iceland and Netherlands.

Play-offs then determined the final seven teams for the tournament, with Belgium, Finland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Wales securing their spots.

A Hannah Cain penalty and Carrie Jones goal saw Wales beat Republic of Ireland 2-1 in Dublin (3-1 on aggregate) to secure their ticket to Switzerland.

What are the groups for Euro 2025?

At the draw on December 16, the 16 teams were split into four pots, with one team from each pot drawn in each group for the tournament.

Hosts Switzerland were in pot one with France, Germany and Spain, while England were in pot two with Denmark, Iceland and Italy. Belgium, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden made up pot three with Wales in pot four along with Finland, Poland and Portugal.

The tournament format sees the teams in each group play each other in a single round-robin format, with the top two progressing to the knockout stage.

The groups are:

Group A: Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Finland

Group B: Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy

Group C: Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden

Group D: France, England, Wales, Netherlands

When are the matches at Euro 2025?

First group matches: July 2-5 (July 5: Wales v Netherlands, France v England).

Second group matches: July 6-9 (July 9: England v Netherlands, France v Wales).

Third group matches: July 10-13 (July 13: Netherlands v France, England v Wales).

Quarter-finals: July 16-19

Semi-finals: July 22-23

Final: July 27

How can I watch the Women’s Euro 2025?

The BBC and ITV will share television coverage for the Women’s European Championship next year.

The deal is set to include half of the matches shown live across BBC channels and iPlayer and the other half shown live across ITV1 and ITV4, with the final on July 27 being shown by both broadcasters.

Sarina Wiegman’s England will be hoping to successfully defend their title in Switzerland having secured automatic qualification for the tournament last month.

BBC Radio 5 Live will also offer live commentary from the Euros while highlights and clips will be found on both the BBC Sport website and ITVX, the latter of which will also show matches on catch-up.

This comes after the 2022 edition of the tournament in which the BBC had sole rights. The Lionesses’ victory in that year’s final was viewed by more than 17 million people on BBC One, capping off a successful tournament, which reached 27.4 million.

Alex Kay-Jelski, the director of BBC Sport, says that the broadcaster “has been a long time supporter of the women’s game” and is “committed to bringing the nation together” whilst his ITV counterpart Niall Sloane says that ITV are “looking forward to showcasing” the tournament.

The Women’s Euros begin on July 2, 2025 and will last 25 days.

How can I buy Women’s Euro 2025 tickets?

Ticket prices for the tournament have been revealed and went on sale on Oct 1. Fans can purchase here.

What happened at the last women’s Euros in 2022?

England are the defending champions after lifting the trophy on home soil, beating Germany 2-1 in the final after extra-time.