France & England Stroll Through Group D to Reach Euro 2025 Quarter-Finals

Ahead of Euro 2025, Group D looked to be one of the most competitive groups of the tournament. It featured 2017 champions Netherlands, a highly rated France side, reigning champions England and tournament debutants Wales. Despite the seemingly unpredictable nature of the group, it was first and second seeds France & England who made it through.

1st - France

France arrived in Switzerland in red-hot form, having won all six of their Nations League matches before the tournament, conceding only two goals. They have generally always been among the favourites in recent major tournaments, but have always seemed to fall short. This time round at Euro 2025, it feels different.

France begun with a 2-1 win against current European champions England and took control of four minutes near the end of the first half with winger Delphine Cascarino demonstrating her ability to run behind back lines providing a first-time cross to Marie-Antoinette Katoto to break the deadlock and three minutes later Les Blues doubled their lead, capitalising on an England indecision through Sandy Baltimore, making it a perfect start to Euro 2025.

The game against England was the only real test Group D provided France's as they then cruised to victory against debutants Wales, followed by a 5-2 win against the Netherlands in their final group game to secure top spot in a star-studded group.

France will have a tough journey to the final as they first will be facing a strong Germany team in the quarter-finals, and if they are to beat them will then have the task of Spain or hosts Switzerland in the semi-final. As much as they can tell themselves it might be Switzerland waiting for them in Zurich, the likelihood is a showdown with the World Champions.

2nd - England

Holders England begun their Euro 2025 journey in the worst way possible with a 2-1 loss to France and despite a late Keira Walsh goal to give the Champions a chance, they were simply overrun by France and it was certainly one of the poorest performances seen under the leadership of manager Sarina Wiegman.

The poor start to the tournament seemed to open a ruthless streak for England's remaining group games that begun with a 4-0 dismantling of the Netherlands through a brace from Lauren James and goals from Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone; this was the performance to showcase why they are the defending champions.

Going into their final group game against neighbours Wales, they certainly didn't hold back with a thorough 6-1 win, however with France winning all of their group games England could finish no higher than second.

However despite missing out on finishing at the top of Group D, they find themselves in the kinder half of the knockout draw with a quarter-final meeting against Sweden. If the Lionesses can get past them they should look to be favourites in the semi-final against the winner of Norway vs Italy.

3rd - Netherlands

The Netherlands started their Euro 2025 campaign off with a strong 3-0 win against debutants Wales, and after a 4-0 loss to England they looked like a side that was ready to turn things around against France, beginning their final group stage game breaking into a 2-1 lead.

However they went on to conceded three goals in six minutes, crushing their chances of reaching the knockout stages. A 5-2 loss to France, coupled with the 4-0 mauling at the hands of England, exposed a brutal reality that there were only two real contenders in this group.

In the end the Dutch only managed one win in the group and conceded nine goals, narrowly avoiding surpassing 2013 as their worst-ever performance at a major tournament.

It had certainly been a turbulent three years with Andries Jonker in charge.

When results were good the support and praise was widespread, yet when things turned ugly such as their failure to qualify for the 2024 Olympics, questions started to crop up questioning whether the Netherlands deserved to be called a European powerhouse, and ultimately all the noise behind the scenes provided to be too much pressure in the end at Euro 2025

4th - Wales

Wales' performance at Euro 2025 wasn't entirely unsurprising, however their is still a lot to be proud of from their debut European Championship appearance.

The Welsh women's game has simply been playing catch up for the last 30 years, but now with Euro 2025 under their belts this seems like a moment of huge potential for Wales looking into the future.

Wales' time in Switzerland ended in a disappointing defeat to neighbours England, but the legacy of the achievement of even being at Euro 2025 is an award in itself with their appearance on the big stage being a win for Women's football in Wales.

Football is now the largest participation sport among girls in Wales with record investment and a rise in the number of girls playing and with the nation's first major tournament in the books, their bid to become a nation that continues to rise through the ranks of women's football is only just the beginning.