UEFA Women's EURO 2025: Switzerland set to take centre stage

The countdown to UEFA Women's EURO 2025 is officially on!

Next summer's tournament will see fans flocking from all over the world to the centre of Europe, and on Friday, International Women's Day, the spotlight shone brightly on Swiss capital Bern as 100 young players joined UEFA and the Swiss Football Association (SFA) for an unforgettable event in the heart of the city.

2025 will see 16 of the world's best teams compete in a month-long festival of football, setting a new benchmark for international women's sporting events that not only celebrates excellence, but also fosters innovation, promotes inclusivity and leaves a lasting, widespread legacy for generations to come.

Speaking at the launch event in Bern, UEFA managing director for women's football, Nadine Kessler, shared her excitement for the tournament and put faith in Switzerland to put on an incredible show.

"When was the last time Switzerland had such a big event? There was EURO 2008 (together with Austria), when around 507,000 tickets were available in Switzerland, but this time it will be around 720,000," she said.

"Five-hundred million people from 200 countries will be watching the competition. That is enormous for Switzerland as a sporting country. To organise the Women’s EURO, Switzerland beat major women’s football nations in the bid phase, and this could become the biggest sporting event ever for Switzerland."

Speakers at Friday's event in BernSFA

Kessler, who was 2014 World Player of the Year before joining UEFA to lead women's football, believes the game's progress makes it incomparable to the time when she dominated the field.

"Women's football has nothing to do with what I experienced ten years ago," she said. "Not only in terms of the number of players and coaches, but investment at all levels and professional structures in many leagues; the popularity of the sport is simply a different world.

"Thankfully these things have changed, but they didn't happen by chance. UEFA alone, for example, has invested almost €500 million in the last six years, and it's clear that a Women's EURO is the measure of all things in terms of overall development."

Friday's event, which involved representatives from all host cities, fell on International Women's Day, and also featured a range of footballing activities with around 100 local schoolchildren outside the Bundeshaus, the Swiss capital's government building, and budding young players from the Biel-Bienne Academy.

The entire group gathered at Bundesplatz, facing the Swiss Parliament, for an inclusive afternoon of football festivities, honing their skills on a miniature pitch, testing their refereeing skills, getting up close with the UEFA Women's EURO trophy, and even meeting Switzerland's head coach, Pia Sundhage.

An installation on the Bundesplatz square illustrating a mountain summit mirrored the newly presented tournament slogan - “UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 – The Summit of Emotions”. It melds the mountainous landscape of Switzerland with what football never disappoints to deliver: the complete spectrum of human emotions. The term "summit" both positions Women's EURO 2025 as the pinnacle of European athletic competition and serves as a reference to the unique location, at which the tournament takes place.

Young players hone their skills in front of Bern's BundeshausSFA

A legacy to promote girls’ and women’s football in the long term

The SFA, which co-hosted UEFA EURO 2008 with Austria, aims to use Women's EURO 2025 to accelerate the development of the game, making football the most popular sport in Switzerland for women and girls, as well as using it as a springboard for the country's domestic league and national teams.

"Never before has Switzerland organised such a major sporting event for women only," said SFA president Dominique Blanc. "It's the starting point for a legacy to promote girls' and women's football in the long term.

"After the great emotions of Lisbon (where the tournament was awarded to Switzerland in April 2023), it was straight down to business. The tournament has three pillars: people should remember a major sporting event, the growth of girls' and women's football in Switzerland and Europe, indeed worldwide, and the renewal of infrastructure."

Marion Daube, SFA director of women's football, added: "The aim is to use the momentum and appeal of Switzerland's legacy project to inspire girls and women to take part. [ We want] to have 80,000 registered female footballers in three years' time - today there are 40,000 - and to have at least 4,000 girls and women as coaches and referees."

In keeping with the festival atmosphere in Bern, the city's iconic Zytglogge (clock tower) was lit up in UEFA Women's EURO 2025 branding on Thursday night, offering the city's residents a first glimpse of a logo that will be seen all over the world next summer.