UEFA Women's Euro

The UEFA Women's European Championship, commonly called the Women's Euro, is the top international football competition for European women's national teams. Organized by UEFA, the tournament runs every four years in odd-numbered years, one year after the men's Euros. Since its official launch in 1984, it has grown from a four-team event into a 16-nation spectacle that draws hundreds of thousands of fans to stadiums and millions of viewers worldwide.

The 2025 edition in Switzerland set new attendance records during the group stage alone, with 461,000 spectators across eight host cities. Matches like Germany vs Denmark drew 34,165 fans in Basel. England's opener against France pulled 3.5 million UK viewers on the day of broadcast. The tournament's global reach has expanded sharply, with US broadcaster Fox Sports expecting a 50% viewership increase over 2022.

Germany holds the record for most titles with eight, including six straight wins from 1995 to 2013. England are the current champions, having won back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2025. The 2022 final at Wembley Stadium saw 87,000 fans watch England beat Germany 2-1 after extra time, the largest crowd ever for a Women's Euro match. [edit]

The roots of the Women's Euro stretch back to 1957, when an unofficial tournament in West Berlin featured teams from England, West Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria at the Poststadion. Financial irregularities spoiled that event, and it took over a decade for a similar competition to resurface. On February 19, 1980, UEFA formally resolved to create a women's national team competition. Qualification began in 1982, and the first finals were held in 1984.

The first three editions were called the European Competition for Representative Women's Teams. That name changed in 1990 when it gained official European Championship status. The tournament was held every two years until the FIFA Women's World Cup started in 1991, after which it settled into a four-year cycle. The finals expanded from four teams in 1984 to eight in 1997, twelve in 2009, and sixteen in 2017.

Germany's dominance defined the tournament from 1995 to 2013, when they won six consecutive titles. The Netherlands won their first title on home soil in 2017, the same year the tournament expanded to 16 teams. England's victory in 2022, played a year late due to COVID-19, marked their first major women's title and set attendance and viewership records. [edit]

The Women's Euro has dramatically raised the profile of women's football across Europe. The 2022 tournament in England saw record attendance and viewership, inspiring a surge in participation. In Switzerland, the 2025 edition aimed to double the number of registered female players. The tournament's success has driven social and economic progress, with sponsorship revenue for 2025 estimated at €32.5 million, up 112% from 2022. [edit]

The 1957 unofficial tournament was marred by financial irregularities, which delayed the creation of a formal competition. In the 1950s, women's football was banned by the German FA, yet teams from England, West Germany, Netherlands, and Austria defied authorities to play in that tournament. The 2022 edition was postponed from 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [edit]