Wales Coach Rhian Wilkinson Expresses Desire to Face Top Teams at Euro 2025

Having assumed leadership of the Welsh team in February and overseen 10 fixtures, Rhian Wilkinson states that Wales aims to compete against “the best of the best” as they get ready for their inaugural major tournament participation. The adversaries for Wilkinson’s squad in the 2025 European Championships, scheduled to take place in Switzerland, will be revealed during the draw on Monday, 16 December, at 17:00 GMT. This event can be viewed on BBC Two, iPlayer, and the BBC Sport website. The national team’s head coach indicated that Wales is indifferent to their group allocation and will not be discouraged should they be drawn alongside prominent tournament contenders, including current champions England, World Cup victors Spain, or Olympic gold medalists Germany. “I’m in a perfect situation, which is that I don’t care and I think that is the gift of it, being our first opportunity we get to walk into this experience fearless,” Wilkinson conveyed to BBC Sport Wales. “There are not many people that expect much from us, the people that expect the most are ourselves.” “And so would we like to face the best? Why wouldn’t we?” “There was an off-hand comment about the Nations League A draw, someone said, ‘I’m sure Wales are pleased they didn’t get England’.” “I would’ve loved England. I mean why wouldn’t I want the Spains, the Englands, Germanys? These are the top, top level of the women’s game.” Rhian Wilkinson stated that the task “isn’t finished” following Wales’ successful qualification for Euro 2025. Wilkinson expressed her full confidence that her players will demonstrate their rightful place on the grandest stage and possess the ability to astonish observers. “Yes, it is really challenging to get wins against some of these top teams but you can’t get a better measure [of where you are at], and what an experience for my players,” she stated. “My players need to go against them to recognise how good they are and also for the world to know how good they are.” “Once you see my players up against the best then you can really start valuing them for the level that they are.” “This is a special group and they want to compete against the best of the best.” The 14th iteration of the Uefa Women’s European Championship will be hosted by Switzerland, with the inaugural match featuring the host nation in Basel on 2 July, occurring 199 days subsequent to Monday’s draw. The championship final is scheduled for 27 July, returning to St Jakob-Park, which is Switzerland’s largest football stadium, capable of accommodating 37,500 spectators. An additional seven venues will stage matches for the 2025 tournament, encompassing stadiums that previously hosted games during the men’s 2008 Euros, specifically the Stadion Wankdorf in Bern, Stade de Genève in Geneva, and Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich. Switzerland, as the host nation, will automatically be assigned to the A1 position, while the other teams from pot one will be drawn to occupy the first position in groups B through D. Subsequently, the remaining 12 teams will be drawn from their respective pots and assigned random positions from 2 to 4 within each group. These group positions will then dictate the sequence of matches. Wales, holding the distinction of being the lowest-ranked team participating in the competition, will be placed in pot four. Republic of Ireland 1-2 Wales: A summary of the match where the visiting team achieved a historic milestone in Dublin. Tickets for Euro 2025 have been accessible for purchase since 1 October 2024, with over 250,000 tickets released for all 31 games of the championship. Approximately 120,000 extra tickets have been reserved exclusively for fans of the qualifying national teams, and these will become obtainable after the tournament draw on 16 December. Access to tickets for every match across the Euro 2025 tournament has been provided through the Women’s Euro 2025 ticket website. Furthermore, an authorized ticket resale platform is slated for introduction in spring 2025, enabling ticket holders to securely purchase and vend official tickets at their original price. Each game of the Women’s Euro 2025 tournament will be broadcast within the UK by either the BBC or ITV. In addition to live television broadcasts and highlight packages on the BBC and iPlayer, radio commentary will also be accessible via BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Radio 5 Live, and 5 Sports Extra.