The women’s European Football Championship will be held in England this week. 16 teams will play for the Euro title in a total of ten stadiums until the end of July. Due to the corona pandemic and a postponement in men’s football, the championship will take place a year later than planned.
In Wednesday’s opening game, the host country meets Austria at Manchester United’s home ground. The system of the European Championships provides that each team within its group plays once against each group member in the preliminary round.
The two most successful teams from each group then advance from the group stage to the quarter-finals, from where the game is played on a knockout basis. In contrast to the football World Cup, there is no match for third place at the European Championships.
Even in the group phase, each victory is awarded 100.00 euros by UEFA. The successful team will receive 660,000 euros for winning the final, and 8 million euros for winning the final at the 2021 European Championships for men.
In qualifying, the German team excelled with eight wins from eight games. At the last European Championship, the DFB team was surprisingly eliminated in the quarter-finals. With a total of eight European Championship titles, the German women’s team is the record winner.
The final of the European Football Championship 2022 will take place on July 31st at the famous Wembley Stadium in London. The defending champions are the Dutch team, who won on home soil in 2017. Although the team is still considered successful, the EM coach from the last championship is no longer training the current squad.
If you look at the forecasts of the betting shops, this year’s host England is traded as the European Championship winner with odds of 5.0. Especially in the group phase, experts assume three wins for the team around the Dutch top trainer Sarina Wiegman. But the combination of home advantage and strong attack should also make a difference in the further rounds.
The situation in Group B, to which Germany also belongs, is much more opaque. With the exception of Finland, all teams are considered to have good chances. However, according to experts, the Spanish team has the best squad, and the betting odds also confirm a high probability of a win.
And there is also a favorite hiding in Group C: the Swedish women’s team is currently in second place in the FIFA rankings. Especially in the offensive, the squad relies on strong players.
But football wouldn’t be football if there weren’t certain surprises. The Scandinavian countries in groups A to C are considered to be the underdogs.
In the 1990s, for example, the Norwegian women’s team won one title after the other, often not even making it to the quarter-finals. The well-positioned squad could still ensure unexpected victories. Denmark could also compete with Germany with its many young players.
Portugal is also hoping for the surprise effect. The side recently got involved when Russia was banned from all UEFA matches due to the Ukraine war. The Portuguese could also have chances in their group.
