Women's EURO 2022: Finland vs Germany match facts, stats, ones to watch

Finland vs Germany: Head-to-head

• Milton Keynes hosts a repeat of a UEFA Women's EURO 2005 semi-final as Finland take on eight-time winners Germany in the last round of Group B games at the 2022 finals.
• Germany sealed first place in the section on Matchday 2, beating Spain 2-0 to follow up their 4-0 opening win against Denmark with Alexandra Popp scoring in both games. Finland's quarter-final hopes were ended by a 1-0 loss to the Danes on 12 July, after they had gone down 4-1 to Spain on Matchday 1.
• This is only the second major tournament contest between the pair having met in the last four of EURO 2005, when England last hosted the competition. Tina Theune's Germany raced into a 3-0 lead at Deepdale in Preston via Inka Grings (3, 12) and Conny Pohlers (8), before Minna Mustonen (15) pulled a goal back for Finland. The reigning champions restored their three-goal advantage via Birgit Prinz's solo effort just after the hour and would go on to retain their title, beating Norway 3-1 in the final in Blackburn four days later.
• Germany have won the last eight matches between these sides, scoring 32 goals.
• The two sides are meeting for the first time in over 12 years, since a friendly in Portugal in February 2010. Germany secured a 7-0 victory, Grings hitting a hat-trick and Alexandra Popp scoring twice. Nadine Kessler and Martina Müller added late strikes.
• The last four matches between these nations have come in friendly tournaments in Portugal, Germany scoring 17 goals without reply.
• Including the EURO 2005 semi-final meeting, Germany have scored 21 goals in their last five matches against Finland. That Mustonen strike at EURO 2005 is Finland's solitary goal in their last eight encounters with Germany.
• This is only the sides' second competitive fixture since May 1996, when they were paired together in EURO 1997 qualifying. Germany won both meetings in that campaign, 3-0 in Tampere in September 1995 and 6-0 in Gifhorn seven months later.
• Finland's only victory in this fixture came in EURO 1987 qualifying. The Finns' solitary win in the group campaign was a 1-0 defeat of Germany in Turku in October 1985.
• Germany had been 1-0 victors in Lüdenscheid in the inaugural meeting between the nations in October 1984.
• Overall, Finland's record in their ten fixtures versus Germany is W1 L9 with two goals scored and 33 conceded.
• Finland are competing at their fourth EURO and reached the semi-finals on debut in 2005, losing to Germany, but are yet to return to the last four. A last-eight defeat at the hands of England followed four years later, before they finished bottom of their group on their last appearance in 2013.
• Martina Voss-Tecklenburg's Germany are aiming to lift the EURO trophy for the ninth time, having been victorious in eight of their ten previous appearances. Norway, with two, are the competition's only other multiple champions.
• Germany triumphed in each of the previous six editions of EURO, and had finished in the top four in each of their first nine participations prior to a 2017 quarter-final defeat by Denmark.
• Finland won seven of their eight EURO 2022 qualifying fixtures as they clinched top spot in Group E. The 1-1 draw away to Portugal in November 2019, in which Sällström's 90th-minute equaliser rescued a point, was the only game in which they failed to pick up three points.
• Germany posted a flawless Group I campaign to book their place at EURO 2022, winning all eight of their qualifiers – scoring 46 goals and conceding just once.
• Linda Sällström's first-minute strike against Spain on Matchday 1 was the fastest ever group stage goal.
• That was Sällström's first goal at EURO since scoring against England as a 21-year-old at the 2009 tournament; she is now both Finland's oldest and youngest scorer at the finals.
• Finland are winless in their last seven EURO finals games (D2 L5), since beating Denmark and the Netherlands in successive 2009 group stage fixtures.
• Finland have recorded just one victory in their nine EURO matches outside their own country (D3 L5) – the 2-1 win versus Denmark in 2005, the last time the tournament was held in England.
• Germany have now progressed from their section in all seven editions of the tournament since the group stage was introduced.
• Die Nationalelf have won their opening two group matches at a Women's EURO for the fourth time; they went on to lift the trophy on each of the previous three occasions.
• Popp is only the second German to score in the first two matches at a EURO finals after Conny Pohlers in 2005.
• Klara Bühl has hit five goals in her last four Germany appearances.
• Germany have won all eight of their Women's EURO matches in England, scoring 25 goals and conceding just three.
• Die Nationalelf's 4-0 victory against Denmark on 8 July was their largest at the tournament since the 2009 final – a 6-2 victory against England – and their sixth win by a four-goal margin or greater.
• Germany have scored four goals in a EURO match on nine occasions; no other side has done so more than four times.
• Germany have suffered defeat in just one of their 20 group stage matches (W15 D4) – the 1-0 Matchday 3 loss to Norway at the 2013 edition – keeping 15 clean sheets.

Ones to watch: Finland

Adelina Engman

• The 27-year-old scored Finland's equaliser in a 5-1 warm-up friendly defeat against Japan in Turku on 27 June.
• Engman is the side's leading scorer in 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying with three goals.
• The forward spent two seasons with Women's Super League side Chelsea, joining from Swedish outfit Kopparbergs/Göteborg in 2018, and was a team-mate of Germany goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger with the Blues.
• After leaving the London side, she had a short spell in France with Montpellier, returning to Sweden to join Växjö in July 2021 before a move to Hammarby four months later.

Linda Sällström

• The 34-year-old scored in the first minute of Finland's Group B opener against Spain on 8 July; the fastest ever group stage goal.
• Sällström's strike against La Roja was her first goal at a Women's EURO since scoring against England as a 21-year-old at the 2009 edition.
• The forward is now both Finland's oldest and youngest scorer at the finals.
• She is Finland's all-time leading goalscorer with 51 goals, having overtaken Laura Österberg Kalmari's tally of 41 with four against Albania in qualifying for this tournament in October 2019..

Eveliina Summanen

• The 24-year-old started all eight of Finland's qualifiers for EURO 2022, scoring in the 1-0 victory against Scotland in October 2020.
• The midfielder is one of three Finland players to have been named in the starting XI for all their 2023 World Cup preliminaries.
• Summanen struck twice in Finland's final competitive encounter prior to EURO 2022, a 6-0 World Cup qualifying victory against Georgia in Helsinki on 12 April.
• She linked up with her international team-mate Korpela at Women's Super League club Tottenham in January 2022 after three years in Sweden with Örebro and Kristianstad.

Ones to watch: Germany

Klara Bühl

• The 21-year-old scored a hat-trick in the 7-0 friendly win against Switzerland on 24 June.
• It was the second treble of her senior Germany career, having also struck three in a 8-0 EURO 2022 qualifying victory against Ukraine in October 2019.
• Bühl was the leading scorer for Die Nationalelf in the qualifying campaign ahead of this tournament with six goals in as many appearances.
• She was part of the Germany side that lifted the 2016 UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship in Belarus, hitting three goals at the tournament including one in the 4-3 semi-final defeat of England.

Svenja Huth

• The 31-year-old was an unused squad member as Die Nationalelf won EURO 2013.
• The midfielder was also part of the successful Germany side that secured gold at the 2016 Olympic Games.
• Huth is the only Germany outfield player to have started all eight of their 2023 World Cup qualifiers.
• The Wolfsburg player scored the first goal of Germany's EURO 2022 qualification campaign, after just three minutes of the 10-0 win versus Montenegro in August 2019.

Alexandra Popp

• The 31-year-old struck twice in Germany's last meeting with Finland, the 7-0 friendly tournament win in Portugal in February 2010.
• Those goals were her first for the senior national team, having made her Germany debut just nine days previously in the 3-0 win against North Korea.
• Popp scored four goals in five appearances in qualifying for this tournament, including a hat-trick in the 10-0 defeat of Montenegro in August 2019.
• The forward featured in all six matches as Germany won gold at the 2016 Olympics, having missed out on EURO 2013 success due to injury.