2024 Women's Under-17 EURO semi-final preview: France vs Spain, England vs Poland

The UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship semi-finals are on Wednesday with England, Poland, Spain and holders France all in contention to reach Saturday's showpiece. We preview the action in Lund and Malmö.

France vs Spain

Four-time winners Spain are in their tenth successive semi-final after ensuring they have progressed from the group stage in all nine editions of the tournament under its current format.

In the 15th edition of the finals, their perfect Group B campaign has also sent them to a 13th semi-final, moving La Roja one ahead of Germany in that respect.

The world champions are now seeking revenge for their defeat in last year's final, when Player of the Tournament Vicky López reduced France's lead to 3-2 and set up a thrilling finale in which Kenio Gonzalo's players came close to a remarkable comeback.

Bleues coach Cécile Locatelli guided her country to their inaugural title but warned her players that their performance in this year's opener against Sweden, when they won 3-2 courtesy of an 89th-minute Rachael Adedini goal, needed to improve.

The response was an 8-0 defeat of Norway, although they suffered a late closing defeat to England.

• Paris' Ornella Graziani scored one of France's goals in their 10-2 win over Switzerland in last year's semi-final and netted twice in three appearances in qualifying for the 2024 finals.
• Ainoa Gómez also has form at this stage: The Barcelona midfielder scored Spain's second goal in last year's 3-1 semi-final win over England, a game in which Martina González, Alba Cerrato, Celia Segura and Noa Ortega also played.

England vs Poland

Five-time semi-finalists England are aiming to go one step further for the first time, with their best previous finish coming when they claimed third place in 2015/16.

Natalie Henderson's side scored 28 times and conceded once in a flawless qualifying campaign, and their formidable form continued in the group stage as they beat Sweden 5-1 in between a 3-0 victory over Norway and a 1-0 win against France.

Only Spain matched Poland's impressive tally of 30 in qualifying, although Marcin Kasprowicz's players had to show their steel to hold off late pressure in their group finale to draw 1-1 against Portugal and secure the point they required to go through.

This is Poland's first appearance in the semi-finals since their triumph in the last four-team Nyon edition in 2012/13, when future UEFA Women's Champions League and Bundesliga top scorer Ewa Pajor was named Player of the Tournament.

• Lola Brown, Izzy Fisher and captain Laila Harbert – all of whom have found the net at the 2024 finals – featured when England won this fixture 2-1 during the group stage in 2023, with their team scoring both goals during the opening 22 minutes. They have been fast starters again in Sweden, scoring seven goals within the first 35 minutes of their first two group-stage matches, three of which came inside 13 minutes.
• Poland scored a 92nd-minute consolation in their defeat to England last year, but the outcome could have been different had they converted a 37th-minute penalty after their opponents were reduced to ten players. Weronika Araśniewicz, who scored and hit the crossbar as part of an excellent individual performance against Portugal, started that game, while Zuzanna Witek, Iga Witkowska and Kinga Wyrwas came on as substitutes.