The fact that the 2002 FIFA World Cup will be held at the end of the year in Qatar should make it possible to give more visibility to the women’s football this summer. This Wednesday, July 6 opens theWomen’s Euro in England in a country that is a serious contender for the title. The players of the host country face Austria in the opening match in the legendary Old Trafford stadium.
The English dream of winning the first title in their history to confirm the rise of women’s football in the country that invented football. This 13th edition of this European Championship will be a milestone no matter what. With 71,000 spectators, the opening match will break the attendance record for a Women’s Euro match.
However, he will only last 25 days, since he will be beaten on July 31 for the final at Wembley, which will bring the mark to 87,000 and it should last a while. Only the Camp Nou can accommodate more spectators in Europe and Spain is not a candidate for the organization of the next edition.
The Blues among the favorites
The French team enters the competition with the status of a contender for the title. She inherited a rather lenient group with Italy, Belgium and Iceland. The French, placed in group D, avoid in particular the Swedish Olympic vice-champions, who find themselves with the Dutch defending champions in group C – the one which will determine the opponent of the Blue in a possible quarter-final.
Les Bleues enter the competition on Sunday against Italy, a rising nation, quarter-finalist of the last World Cup and which is the most serious opponent. It will be necessary to finish in the first two of the group to progress to the quarters, but the Blue, eliminated at this stage of the competition in the last three editions, as during their World Cup at home in 2019, are aiming further.
“We, our objective is clearly, with this team and this group (of players), to go at least to the final. And we will give ourselves the means to get there“, promised coach Corinne Deacon.
Plethora of contenders
At home, England will seek to mark their territory as soon as the competition opens. The Dutch defending champions, and Spain, with several Barcelona crowned European club champions this year, can also harbor legitimate ambitions.
The 31 matches of this Euro will take place in ten stadiums ranging from the small enclosure of the women and U21s of Manchester City (less than 5,000 places) to the legendary Wembley, nearly 90,000 places and host of the final.