Switzerland have been chosen as hosts for the Women’s Euro in 2025.
The Swiss bid was selected at a meeting of UEFA’s executive committee in Lisbon on Tuesday.
Switzerland overcame bids from France, Poland and a combined bid from four Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
The Swiss Football Association replied to UEFA’s tweet confirming the news by posting: “Happy to welcome you all at home! See you then!”
Switzerland, which is the home of UEFA and of football’s world governing body FIFA, co-hosted the 2008 men’s European Championship alongside Austria, and hosted the 1954 men’s World Cup.
England will head into the tournament in just over two years’ time as holders after the Lionesses’ triumph on home soil last summer.
Swiss FA president Dominique Blanc said: “This is a historic day for Switzerland, the association and women’s football.
“This big step will shape the development of women’s football at all levels. I would like to thank everyone involved who made this project possible, especially those responsible at the federal government, the cantons and the host cities, who have supported us from the start.”
The tournament will be staged in June and July 2025, with the Swiss bid proposing matches would be hosted in Basel, Bern, Geneva, Zurich, St Gallen, Sion, Lucerne and Thun.
Marion Daube, the association’s director of women’s football and the leader of the bid project, added: “The Swiss FA has made the promotion of women’s football an important part of its strategy for the future and is extremely pleased that we are supporting our strategy to hold a tournament with high visibility in our country.
“We are proud that our application was successful and we want to show that football is accessible to everyone. Our tournament should be a four-week festival for the whole of Switzerland and, due to our location in the heart of Europe, also for the surrounding countries.”
England won the trophy last summer with a 2-1 extra-time victory over Germany at Wembley in front of a crowd 87,192, the biggest-ever attendance for any Euros match, men’s or women’s.
Lauren Hemp, part of the England team that day, was asked on Tuesday for her reaction to the news of the next edition being in Switzerland, where the capacity of Basel’s St Jakob-Park is around 38,000.
And the forward said: “I think it will be different – obviously it will always be hard to top a home Euros in front of a packed-out Wembley Stadium – obviously winning it as well, playing against Germany.
I'm really looking forward to the next few years with England because there’s so much to look forward to and being in Switzerland will be a different experience— Lauren Hemp
“But looking forward to the future, yeah, it might hold 38,000 but there’s still going to be so many fans, hopefully it will be packed out and so many people watching from back home.
“The women’s game is growing so much that it will be on so many people’s TV screens and advertised so much that it will still be an incredible experience.
“I’m really looking forward to the next few years with England because there’s so much to look forward to and being in Switzerland will be a different experience. It’s something to look forward to as players.”
