Wales’ Jess Fishlock Targets Knock-out Stages Ahead of Euro 2025 Draw

Wales’ Jess Fishlock indicates that her teammates are already considering potential opponents for the Euro 2025 tournament in Switzerland. The timing of the Euro 2025 draw and the identity of Rhian Wilkinson’s team’s adversaries in Switzerland are key questions for women’s football in Wales, which has long awaited this moment. This subject is already a point of discussion within the team, which achieved a historic milestone by defeating the Republic of Ireland in Dublin during a play-off, thereby securing their inaugural appearance in a major finals. Star player Jess Fishlock has already conveyed that Wales is not satisfied with simply qualifying for the tournament, stating the team’s objective is to reach the knock-out stages. Record goalscorer Fishlock informed Football Focus, “We’re not there to make up numbers. I believe – and these girls believe – we’re going to get there and compete.” England, despite holding the second position in Fifa’s rankings, will be placed in Pot 2 for the Euro 2025 draw as they seek to defend the trophy they secured in 2022. The draw for the group stages is scheduled for Monday, 16 December, at 17:00 GMT in Lausanne, Switzerland. A total of 16 teams, including hosts Switzerland, are set to participate in the finals, which will be contested across eight venues from 2-27 July. The group stage format involves four groups, each comprising four teams, competing against one another. The top two teams from each group will advance to the quarter-finals. Wales, having secured qualification through the play-offs, will be assigned to Pot 4 for the draw. The reigning champions, England, will be in Pot 2, and World Cup winners Spain are included in Pot 1. Fishlock stated, “We’ve already started asking each other who we would like and everyone’s putting in different teams,” also acknowledging that achieving the dream of reaching a major finals was “beyond my wildest dreams.” She added, “But we’re just so excited now it almost doesn’t really matter what the group is – we just can’t wait to get there and experience it.” The complete pot allocations are as follows: Pot 1: Switzerland (hosts), Spain, Germany, France. Pot 2: Italy, Iceland, Denmark, England. Pot 3: Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Belgium. Pot 4: Finland, Poland, Portugal, Wales. Among the teams that have qualified for Euro 2025, only Poland holds a lower seeding than Wales in the world rankings. This indicates that Wilkinson’s team will encounter a significant challenge in their pursuit of further historical achievements once the tournament commences in Basel on 2 July. However, the enthusiasm within the Welsh squad is coupled with ambition, as Seattle Reign star Fishlock further stated: “Honestly, I believe we’re good enough to compete – but we’re going to have some fun there while we’re doing it, because if you don’t what’s the point?” She continued, “We’re not there to make up the numbers. I believe – and these girls believe – we’re going to get there and compete. We want to get out of the group, we want to get to the knock-out stages and I truly believe, hand on heart, we have a good enough group [of players] to do that.” Rhian Wilkinson’s team will need to temporarily halt their celebrations as they are set to commence a Nations League campaign in two months. Beyond any potential warm-up matches nearer to the tournament, Wales’ history-making squad faces a demanding schedule leading up to Switzerland, attributed to the Nations League. Their re-entry into the top tier of European women’s football ensures they will undergo substantial testing before the main tournament. Wales’ participation in League A will involve home and away fixtures against fellow finalists Italy, Sweden, and Denmark, scheduled between February and June. Fishlock further commented, “We’re super-excited and the Nations League helps us prepare for this now, so this next year is going to be so huge for us and so fun.” The complete fixture list is as follows: Friday, 21 February – Italy (a) Tuesday, 25 February – Sweden (h) Friday, 4 April – Denmark (h) Tuesday, 8 April: Sweden (a) Friday, 30 May – Denmark (a) Tuesday, 3 July – Italy (h)