Women Euro Championship: Contenders know opponents Thursday
Holders Netherlands and other contenders will know their opponents as draw for the 2022 Championship takes centre stage on Thursday in Manchester.
England will play host to the tournament from July 6-31, which hopes to smash attendance records for women’s football with Manchester United’s Old Trafford the setting for the opening game before a Wembley final.
England are hoping home advantage will help them win a major women’s international tournament for the first time.
The Lionesses have fallen at the semi-final stage in each of the last two World Cups and Euro 2017.
England are guaranteed to kick the tournament off at Old Trafford with organisers hoping for an attendance that will break the 41,300 record for a women’s European Championship match.
Netherlands, France and Germany are the other top seeds and contenders for the tournament, along with Olympic silver medallists Sweden and a rapidly improving Spain side filled with Champions League winners who play their club football for Barcelona.
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Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Northern Ireland, Norway, Russia and Switzerland are the other qualifiers for a tournament UEFA hopes to be the biggest European women’s sports event ever in terms of attendance.
Premier League stadiums in Brentford, Brighton and Southampton will play host to games, along with more modest venues in Leigh, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Rotherham and Sheffield. There are 700,000 tickets available for fans whilst seeking to achieve full venues where possible,” said the English Football Association’s director of women’s football Sue Campbell.
UEFA moved the women’s Euro back a year to allow the men’s Euro 2020 to go ahead earlier this year.