Here to stay: How Switzerland is embracing UEFA EURO 2025 to ignite the future of Swiss women's football

Switzerland, aiming to transform the game on home soil

Switzerland must only look back to the previous hosts to understand the potential impact that lies ahead. When England won their first European Championship (men or women) in 2022, the women’s game skyrocketed in popularity and is now established in mainstream sports coverage.

Though captain Lia Wälti is conscious that the two host nations cannot be compared due to size and the popularity of football, the goal remains the same.

She told ESPN:"I hope that the Euros will give us that extra push for people to see that this game actually has a lot of potential, even in Switzerland, and that they want to push and invest and give the girls a chance... the same chance as the boys basically. I see it more as a responsibility thing; I want to use my voice to push the game forward.

“I appreciate that I am part of a generation where we have experienced both… the part where it was really difficult, where we didn't have good conditions, and now we actually get to enjoy the game way more.”

Switzerland have previously hosted a European Championship, co-hosting the 2008 men’s edition with Austria though they were eliminated in the group stage. Alpine skiing and ice hockey are popular national sports, but nothing unites quite like football.

Take the men’s recent success of reaching consecutive European quarter-finals, a feat previously never achieved by the national team, yet lauded for a nation of just less than nine million people.

Now the women are preparing for their deserved spotlight in a third consecutive finals appearance, on home soil no less. Anything can happen when the stands are packed with a sea of passionate fans in red and white.

Click here to read article