Denmark vs Sweden facts

Group C of UEFA Women's EURO 2025 kicks off with an all-Scandinavian meeting between Denmark and Sweden in Geneva – the third time the teams have faced each other in their opening match at the tournament.

Former winners Sweden qualified through the play-offs while Denmark booked their place by finishing second in their group.

Previous meetings

This is the countries' fourth Women's EURO meeting since the turn of the century. Eventual runners-up Sweden were 1-0 victors in the 2001 semi-finals, Tina Nordlund scoring the only goal in the ninth minute.

They then met on Matchday 1 in both 2005 and when Sweden hosted the finals in 2013; both fixtures ended 1-1.

Sweden have four wins and Denmark two in Women's EURO qualifying fixtures with two draws, the Danes winning their last qualifier 2-0 in September 2016.

The nations' last match was an April 2023 friendly in Malmo, visitors Denmark prevailing 1-0 courtesy of an added-time winner from Stine Larsen.

Form guide

Denmark

Denmark won four of their six qualifying games in Group A2, losing only to section winners Spain; they beat both Belgium and Czechia home and away.

With three goals apiece, Janni Thomsen and Amalie Vangsgaard were the Danes' top scorers in qualifying.

Denmark are featuring in Women's Euro for an 11th time, and eighth in a row since the introduction of a group stage in 1997. They have progressed to the knockout stages in three of those previous seven attempts, but lost two of their three games in 2022, a team coached by Lars Søndergaard finishing third in Group B behind Germany and Spain.

Under Nils Nielsen, Denmark achieved their best Women's EURO result in 2017 when they finished runners-up, losing 2-4 to hosts Netherlands in Enschede. They also finished third as hosts in 1991 and also in 1993, and have reached at least the semi-finals on six occasions overall.

Pernille Harder – Denmark's all-time top scorer – was on target in that 2017 final defeat.

Second behind England in Group D of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, Denmark lost 0-2 to Australia in the round of 16.

Head coach Andrée Jeglertz, who managed Finland in the 2013 finals, suceeded Søndergaard in September 2023.

Sweden

With a record of W2 D2 L2 Sweden finished ahead of Republic of Ireland but behind France and England in qualifying Group A3. They progressed to the play-offs as a result, and recorded a 12-0 aggregate victory against Luxembourg (4-0 a, 8-0 h) before reaching the finals with an 8-0 defeat of Serbia (2-0 a, 6-0 h).

Filippa Angeldahl, Stina Blackstenius and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd all scored four goals in qualifying.

Sweden defeated England 4-3 on penalties in Luton, former head coach Pia Sundhage converting the winning spot kick, in the two-legged final (1-0 h, 0-1 a) of the inaugural UEFA-run European Competition for Women's Football in 1984.

Making their 12th finals appearance and ninth in succession in 2025, Sweden have reached a further three finals, losing to Norway in 1987 (1-2) and Germany in both 1995 (2-3) and 2001 (0-1 aet golden goal).

Sweden, who lost 0-4 to winners England in the 2022 semi-finals and have been eliminated by the eventual champions in each of the last three EURO finals, have reached the knockout stages in all seven tournaments since a group stage was introduced in 1997, when they were co-hosts.

Ever-presents at the Women's World Cup, Sweden finished third in 2023; they were finalists in 2003 and won Olympic silver in both 2016 and 2021.

Peter Gerhardsson has been in charged since succeeding Sundhage after Women's EURO 2017.

Key facts

• Denmark have won only three of their last ten Women's EURO group matches (D2 L5).

• The Danes have won only one of their seven Matchday 1 fixtures in the tournament (D2 L4), 1-0 against Belgium in 2017.

• Sweden have lost only two of their 21 group matches (W13 D6); 1-3 against Germany in 2001 and 2-3 against Italy in 2017.

• Sweden have kept 12 clean sheets in their last 20 EURO group games.

• The 1-3 defeat against Germany in 2001 is the only time Sweden have lost on Matchday 1 at EURO (W2 D4).

• Sweden have drawn their opening match at the last three EURO tournaments; 1-1 versus Denmark (2013), 0-0 with Germany (2017) and 1-1 against Netherlands (2022).