LAUSANNE: World Cup winners Spain will play Italy, Belgium and Portugal at Women’s Euro 2025, while England face a tough path to defending their title at the tournament in Switzerland. Reigning European champions and 2023 World Cup runners-up England were drawn alongside France, the Netherlands and debutants Wales in a challenging Group D of the tournament, which runs from July 2-27.

The Netherlands won the tournament on home soil in 2017 under current England boss Sarina Wiegman. Wiegman will take on her native country on July 9, before England conclude their group-stage campaign against local rivals Wales. “We’re neighbors so there’s a rivalry on the pitch, which is good,” Wiegman said to the BBC, looking forward to her team’s clash with Wales, who are making their bow at a major international tournament.

“I expect them to get everything out of themselves that they have in them and fight for every yard in the game and enjoy it.” France, beaten semi-finalists in the last edition of the Euros, have never won a major tournament in the women’s game.

“I think the other teams must be dreading being in the same group as France,” said coach Laurent Bonadei. “At this level, all the groups are tough, like Germany’s, and even Spain’s is an equal group,” he added, looking at the rest of the draw.

Germany, who have won eight of the previous 13 editions, meet 1984 winners Sweden, Denmark and newcomers Poland in Group C. The Germans won six successive titles between 1995 and 2013 but lost to England after extra time in the final two years ago at Wembley. Hosts Switzerland kick off the tournament against two-time former champions Norway in Group A, which also includes Iceland and Finland. Spain have reached the quarter-finals of the last three European Championships. They made the last four on their debut in 1997.

Spain coach Montserrat Tome told Teledeporte that she was “very happy” with her team’s draw, as the tournament favorites avoided their bigger continental rivals. However, she said that Spain “have to be humble”, adding that “at international level every match is a problem”. UEFA announced ahead of Monday’s draw that it would award 41 million euros ($43 million) in prize money for the tournament, more than doubling the amount from 2022.

The team that wins the final in Basel will receive up to 5.1 million euros—England pocketed 2.085 million as champions in 2022 -- with each of the 16 participating teams receiving 1.8 million euros.

Group stage draw in full:

Group A: Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Finland

Group B: Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy

Group C: Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden

Group D: France, England, Wales, Netherlands. — AFP