Spain UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 preview

World champions Spain are bidding to add fresh silverware to their collection when the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 kicks off in Switzerland in July.

Blessed with the most talented squad in the tournament, on many levels it was no surprise to see Spain win the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. However, given everything that went on during a tumultuous buildup to the event, it was still a very impressive feat as Spain figured out a way to win, despite the deep problems and divides that remained behind the scenes.

The actions of RFEF president Luis Rubiales on final day in Sydney added to the sense of a bittersweet triumph. Two years on, Rubiales and coach Jorge Vilda are gone from the set-up, and it’s Vilda’s former assistant Montse Tome who is faced with the task of trying to united the group and lead them to victory in Switzerland.

How did Spain qualify for the Euros?

As world champions, Spain unsurprisingly qualified for this tournament with minimal fuss, winning five of their six group games in a campaign that started with a thumping 7-0 victory over Belgium.

There were a few cracks though in some of their other performances which dipped below the very high standards they set down under in 2023. That included a surprise 2-1 defeat against the Czech Republic, the bottom side in the group.

Spain also won five out of six in their Nations League group earlier this year, with their final fixture against fellow World Cup finalists England resulting in a 2-1 victory at the RCDE Stadium in early June.

They therefore take good form into a tournament that they are the clear favourites to win.

Spain at the Women’s Euros history

Despite their dominant record in international football in recent years, Spain do not have a particularly good record in this competition. They failed to even qualify for nine of the first 10 tournaments, but did reach the semi-finals on debut in 1997.

La Roja wouldn’t return to the event until 2013 when they were quarter-finalists in Sweden. There have been two more last-eight exits since then, most recently in England in 2022 when they were beaten in extra-time by the hosts and eventual winners in Brighton.

Spain have never won a knockout match at the Women’s Euros, something they’ll be determined to put right this summer.

Group stage opponents

Portugal

Tome’s side are in Group B at Euro 2025 and they’ll begin with an Iberian derby against Portugal. Given Spain recorded 4-2 and 7-1 victories over the Portuguese in the Nations League as recently as April, this should be a relatively gentle introduction into the tournament for La Roja against a Portuguese side that features Barcelona midfielders Tatiana Pinto and Francisca Nazareth.

Belgium

The strong expectation is that Spain will have six points on the board after their second game against Belgium, one of the tournament outsiders. The teams will be relatively familiar with one another given they’ve met four times since the 2023 World Cup, with Spain winning on each occasion, although they did need stoppage-time goals from Lucia Garcia and Cristina Martin-Prieto to avoid a shock defeat in the Nations League in Valencia in February.

Italy

On paper, Spain’s toughest group opponent will be Italy. Le Azzurre haven’t made it past the group stage at a major tournament since the 2019 World Cup, but they are currently ranked as the 13th-best team in the world. In their first major competition under the guidance of Andrea Soncin, they can still depend on 35-year-old forward Cristiana Girelli to offer a real goal threat up top and they drew 1-1 against Spain in a friendly last year.

Spain Euro 2025 fixtures

Group stage

Spain’s training base is in Lausanne, a spectacularly-set city on Lake Geneva. It’ll take them only a little over an hour by road to reach the Stadion Wankdorf in Bern, the setting for their first and third group games.

In between those matches, they’ll head only slightly further to the Arena Thun to take on Belgium, so there will be relatively little travelling involved in the group stage of this tournament for Spain.

Potential knockout path

Spain are the clear favourites to win Group B, so their most likely path would see them play their third match in Bern in the quarter-final stage. However, the disadvantage of that route would be a longer semi-final trip to the other side of Switzerland to play in Zurich, the country’s largest city, assuming they progressed that far.

Were they to finish as runners-up, then both the quarter-final and potential semi-final would be in the city of Geneva, only around 60 km from their training base.

All things considered, Spain’s chances of reaching the last four look extremely good. They’ve landed on much the weaker side of the draw, and will face opposition from Group A in the quarter-finals should they progress. That group does not feature any real heavyweights, with hosts Switzerland joined by a competitive Norwegian side, as well as outsiders Iceland and Finland.

They cannot face any of their main rivals, expected to be France, Germany and England, before the semi-final stage.

Who is in Montse Tome’s squad?

Spain’s squad is exceptionally strong and features two-time Ballon d’Or winners Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas, with the latter fully fit for this tournament which wasn’t the case in 2023 when she was only just recovering from an ACL injury.

There’s also plenty more quality in the shape of the likes of Mariona Caldentey, Patri Guijarro, Laia Aleixandri, Irene Paredes and Esther Gonzalez.

They are missing Tere Abelleira and Laia Codina to injuries however, while Jenni Hermoso and Ivana Andres, who both featured in the 2023 World Cup final, have not been selected.

Goalkeepers: Adriana Naclares (Athletic Club), Cata Coll (Barcelona), Esther Sullastres (Sevilla)

Defenders: Laia Aleixandri (Manchester City), Ona Battle (Barcelona), Olga Carmona (Real Madrid), Jana Fernandez (Barcelona), Maria Mendez (Real Madrid), Leila Ouahabi (Manchester City), Irene Paredes (Barcelona)

Midfielders: Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona), Athenea del Castillo (Real Madrid), Patri Guijarro (Barcelona), Vicky Lopez (Barcelona), Alexia Putellas (Barcelona), Maite Zubieta (Athletic Club)

Forwards: Mariona Caldentey (Arsenal), Lucia Garcia (Monterrey), Esther Gonzalez (Gotham FC), Cristina Martin-Prieto (Benfica), Salma Paralluelo (Barcelona) Claudia Pina (Barcelona), Alba Redondo (Real Madrid)