UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 preview: Wales

Photo: Ashley Crowden / FAW

The Dragons are heading to their first ever major tournament this summer, but how did they get here?

Squad:

Goalkeepers- Olivia CLARK (Leicester City), Safia MIDDLETON-PATEL (Manchester United), Poppy SOPER (Unattached)

Defenders- Charlie ESTCOURT (DC Power), Gemma EVANS (Liverpool), Josie GREEN (Crystal Palace), Hayley LADD (Everton), Esther MORGAN (Sheffield United), Ella POWELL (Bristol City), Rhiannon ROBERTS (Unattached), Lily WOODHAM (Seattle Reign)

Midfielders- Jess FISHLOCK (Seattle Reign), Alice GRIFFITHS (Unattached), Ceri HOLLAND (Liverpool), Sophie INGLE (Unattached), Angharad JAMES (Seattle Reign), Lois JOEL (Newcastle United), Rachel ROWE (Southampton)

Forwards- Kayleigh BARTON (Unattached), Hannah CAIN (Leicester City), Elise HUGHES (Crystal Palace), Carrie JONES (IFK Norrköping), Ffion MORGAN (Bristol City)

History

The Wales Women’s National Team played their first international match in May 1973 against the Republic of Ireland in which they lost 3-2.

The team wasn’t governed under the Football Association of Wales until 1993 when Michelle Adams, Karen Jones and Laura McAllister (the first Welsh person to be in the UEFA executive committee) fought to be heard.

If it wasn’t for them, the national team certainly wouldn’t be where it is today, along with the work and investment from players, staff and managers.

Qualification

After narrowly missing out on qualification in the Euro 2022 qualifying campaign, finishing third in their group, Wales came back stronger to qualify for Euro 2025.

The introduction of the UEFA Women’s Nations League saw the team take a slightly different route to qualification.

After coming out of group B4 of the Nations League at the top and undefeated, The Dragons earned a spot in League A and the Euro 2025 play-offs.

Due to topping their group, they faced Slovakia in the play-off semi-finals. In the first leg, Wales suffered a 2-1 away defeat with Ffion Morgan scoring their singular goal to keep their Euro hopes still alive.

However, they made an incredible comeback in the second leg, winning the home match 2-0 after goals from Jess Fishlock and Ceri Holland.

@morgannasnaps for Impetus Football

Advancing to the play-off finals, they were set to face the Republic of Ireland who had most recently qualified for the Women’s World Cup in 2023.

The first leg was a home match at the Cardiff City stadium with the game ending in a 1-1 draw. Both goals came in the first half, with Wales opening the score sheet, leading to a tense rest of the ninety.

This left the qualifiers all to play for in the Dublin set second leg. Hannah Cain opened the score sheet with a penalty conversion that set the momentum and tone for the rest of the game.

In the second half, this was followed by a goal from Carrie Jones in the 67th minute. The score was now 2-0 (3-1 on aggregate).

Wales’ defence held on for the rest of the match, only conceding one goal in the dying minutes of the game.

The final whistle blew and Wales were confirmed to be heading to their first ever major tournament and first ever UEFA Women’s Euros!

Looking ahead

For UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, Wales have been placed in group D, nicknamed the ‘group of death’ and it has been given this name for a reason.

The group consists of Wales, France, England and the Netherlands. There’s no need to sugar coat that this a tough group, but no group is easy on one of the biggest international stages in the world.

However , despite being the lowest ranked team in the group at 30th, the Dragons will not let the reputation of this group phase them, and will definitely come out ready to show what they’re made of!

Wales won’t come just to participate, they will be hunting to pick up a point (or a few). It will be great to see how far they can go at their first major tournament as the sky really is the limit!

Captain

Angharad James officially took over the armband in October 2024, succeeding Sophie Ingle who had previously taken on the captaincy role for 9 years.

Currently playing her football at Seattle Reign in the NWSL, she is a consistent player that you can rely on to break up play and pick out key passes.

Photo: @morgannasnaps for Impetus Football

James was the youngest player ever to reach 100 caps for Wales, and made her international debut at just 17-years-old. In present day, she has a wealth of club and country experience to add to her resume.

Now with 132 caps, she will have the chance to showcase her talent, experience and leadership skills on the international stage in front of millions, something I’d hoped to be able to witness in my lifetime.

Manager

Rhian Wilkinson only took over the Welsh Women’s National Team in February 2024 and in less than a year she has taken her squad all the way through Euro qualification.

Wilkinson is from Canada, born to a Welsh mother, and attended school in Cowbridge for one year when she was a child.

Throughout her time in charge, Wilkinson has already achieved a numerous amount of big results with the team, including holding Sweden to draws on more than one occasion.

She has brought in different tactics such as switching between a back three and a back four, as well as fostering a high performance but welcoming culture amongst the players.

Captain Angharad James said, “She holds us accountable, but she also makes us believe we can beat anyone. That’s new for us.”

Players to look out for

Jess Fishlock-

This player needs no introduction, an absolute legend who’s given everything she has to this game.

Fishlock plays a pivotal role for The Dragons, scoring and setting up goal scoring opportunities for her teammates.

The 38-year-old two-time Champions League winner is Wales’ top goalscorer with 47 goals and holds the most appearances with 162.

Carrie Jones-

The 21-year-old recently moved to Sweden to play her football, which has definitely helped her step up her attacking play.

Her incredible positional awareness adds to her versatility as she can comfortably play in midfield, on the wing or as a lone centre forward.

Jones scored the decisive goal to send Wales to the Euros in the second leg of the play-offs against Ireland.

Sophie Ingle-

One of the most important members of the squad; fans and squad members alike were waiting patiently for the announcement to see if she would make it into the Euro 2025 squad.

Last September, Ingle suffered an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury in a pre-season friendly, and has fought for the last 9 months to be back ready for the tournament of a lifetime, and she did it!

Ceri Holland-

Recently signing a contract extension at her club, Liverpool, she is versatile and can play as a midfielder, wing-back or as a forward.

Holland is a crucial part of Wales’ attack with her explosive pace as she is always breaking the opposition’s lines of defence, often doing this for 90 minutes at a time!

After scoring the decisive goal against Slovakia that sent Wales through to the play-off finals, Holland will be looking to get on the scoresheet at the Euros.

Fixtures

Wales vs Netherlands (Swissporarena, Lucerne)- 5th July, 5pm BST

Wales vs France (Arena St Gallen) - 9th July, 8pm BST

Wales vs England (Arena St Gallen) - 13th July, 8pm BST