Tomorrow marks the start of the UEFA Women's Euro 2025, the 14th edition of the tournament, which will take place in Switzerland from 2 to 27 July. The first day will see all four teams in Group A take the pitch. The first fixture scheduled is Finland vs. Iceland at 18:00 CEST at the Thun Arena. Then, at 21:00 CEST, Switzerland vs. Norway will be played at St. Jakob Park in Basel, where the opening ceremony is also set to take place.

In 48 hours, it will then be the Azzure who will play their opener at the Stade de Tourbillon in Sion (18:00 CEST), where the national team are set to arrive this evening, after training this morning at their Team Base Camp in Weggis. Italy will begin their European Championship journey exactly where it had come to an end three years ago: facing the same Belgian side that knocked them out in Manchester in July 2022 following Tine De Caigny’s winner in the 49th minute. Italy’s second match is scheduled for 7 July at the Stade de Geneve in Geneva (21:00 CEST), against Portugal, who are making their third consecutive tournament appearance without ever having faced the Azzurre before. Interestingly, the last time Italy, Belgium and Portugal were all in the same group was during qualifying for the 2019 World Cup (Group 6); Italy finished top and qualified for the finals in France. In that group, Italy had two wins against Portugal and one win and one loss against Belgium.

The Azzurre maintain a strong overall record against Portugal, with 14 wins and two defeats (36 goals for and eight against). However, this will be the first time that both teams will meet on neutral ground (the two matches played in Lagos during the Algarve Cup are considered home games for Portugal), and it will also be their first time facing each other in the European Championship finals. On the other hand, with Belgium the record is more even: both teams have four wins each, although Italy are ahead in terms of goals scored (15 compared to twelve). This match marks the fourth game on neutral ground, where the previous three have ended in defeat for Italy: 4-1 in Larnaca at the 2017 Cyprus Cup, 2-1 in Milton Keynes at the 2023 Arnold Clark Cup, and 1-0 in Manchester during the Euro 2022 group stage, which is also their first and only meeting at the final tournament of a European Championship.

And, finally, we have Italy’s third opponents, Spain, the reigning champions of the world. The Azzurre are set to go head-to-head with the Spaniards for the fifth time in three years: the friendly in Castel di Sangro in July 2022 (1-1), the two matches in Nations League in October and December of 2023 (0-1 and 3-2), and another friendly in Vicenza in October 2024 (1-1). In these last five games, the record is even with one win each in the Nations League and three friendly draws (six goals apiece). The overall record in official matches, dating back to 1982, stands at six wins to three in favour of the Azzurre, with five draws and a goal tally of 19-14. The two teams have only played each other on neutral ground twice so far: a 2-1 Italy victory in the Euro ’97 semi-final in Lillestroem, thanks to which Italy progressed to their second European final (lost to Germany), and Spain’s 2-0 win in the Cyprus Cup in 2018.

Qualifying campaigns. Spain and Italy played six matches, while Belgium and Portugal took to the pitch ten times given their involvement in the play-offs. According to official data from UEFA.com, Spain were the team with the highest average points per game (2.66 – five wins and one loss), followed by Portugal, who collected 26 points from ten matches, with eight wins and two draws. The Portuguese are also the only side who went unbeaten in qualifying among the four teams in Group B. Italy, on the other hand, picked up the fewest points (nine from six matches, an average of 1.50). Spain did better than Portugal in terms of goals scored: three per game compared to 2.5. The Spaniards had the highest number of attempts (100 shots in total, almost 17 per match). In this regard, Italy were close to Portugal (eleven shots per game compared to 13.1).

Defensively, the Azzurre performed best with only three goals conceded, although Portugal matched their average of 0.5 goals per game (five conceded in ten matches). Both teams outperformed Spain (0.84 goals conceded per game) and Belgium (1.9). Italy received the most yellow cards (eleven, nearly two per game) but were flagged offside the fewest times (just nine offside calls, compared to Portugal’s 31 and Belgium’s 20 in ten matches, and Spain’s 13 in six). The Azzurre and Portugal were the most physical teams: they committed the most fouls per match (8.5 and 8.6 respectively) and also suffered the most (9.5 and 10).