Giants Fall As Euro 2025 Reaches Final Four

It's inevitable in knockout football that big names will tumble, and with England, Germany and Spain all reaching the final four, there haven't been too many shocks at Euro 2025. Nonetheless, some of the biggest names in women's international football will be watching the rest of the tournament from home.

Former Champions Norway and the Netherlands have been sent packing, along with one of the favourites for this year's tournament in France.

Netherlands - Group Stage (3rd)

The 2017 winners finished second in their qualification group behind Italy on 9 points and were placed into the so-called “Group of death” alongside England, France and Wales.

According to OPTA, the Dutch entered the tournament as the sixth most likely champions, largely down to their incredibly difficult group which featured two of the top three favourites.

The Netherlands started the tournament with a 3-0 thumping of Wales, and with England losing 2-1 to France, victory over the defending champions would've seen the Dutch safely through to the last eight.

That wasn't what happened.

England thrashed a sorry-looking Dutch side 4-0, with a brace from Lauren James, a stunner from Georgia Stanway and a tap-in for Ella Toone. Alessia Russo was the true star of the show however, assisting three of the four goals and starting the attack for the fourth.

It was the first time the Netherlands had failed to score in a competitive game since a 4-0 loss to Germany in May. It was also the first time since the Euro 2022 quarter final, a 1-0 loss to France, that they had failed to score in a match at a major tournament.

They still had a chance to qualify if England lost to Wales and if they could beat France by a wide margin. England though were never going to drop points against the Welsh, smashing them 6-1, and the Netherlands didn't get on much better themselves, losing 5-2 to France.

Overview

Despite being drawn into a very tough group, the Netherlands had qualification to the last eight in their control ahead of the game against England so to fall to a defeat by four goals was extremely disappointing from their point of view.

Norway - Quarter-finals

Norway were brilliant in Group A, finishing top with a maximum nine points plus they had scored the fourth most goals throughout the group stages with eight.

Their attacking firepower was to be feared by anyone, with the likes of Caroline Graham Hansen, Frida Maanum and Guro Reiten in their ranks. On top of that, winning Group A put Norway on the kinder side of the draw, away from France, Germany and Spain.

But the one thing that did go wrong in the group stages came back to haunt Norway. Marit Lund's suspension, earned for her late red card against Iceland in the final group match, meant that Reiten had to play at left-back.

In the game itself, Italy were much the better and would have been 1-0 up at half time if not for Norway keeper, Cecilie Fiskerstrand. Five minutes into the second half Italy did get the lead when Girelli tapped home a rebound from a Fiskerstrand save.

Norway had a chance to level when Ada Hegerberg won a penalty in the 60th minute but like against Switzerland in the opening game, she missed the target altogether.

It was almost a reverse of what happened in that opening game as this time she scored the equaliser after she had missed the penalty, poking a pass over the top into the bottom corner.

Ultimately though Norway squandered their chances in the final 20 minutes of the game, allowing Italy to snatch it at the death through a late Girelli header.

Overview

The quarter-final exit will not be a disappointment in terms of expectations for Norway, rather a missed opportunity to make it to a major tournament semi-final, especially with how good they had been in the group stages.

France - Quarter-finals

France caught the eye of everyone at Euro 2025 by topping the “Group of Death” Group D ahead of both England and the Netherlands, winning all three of their group games.

While a quarter-final tie against Germany always had the potential to be difficult, France will be incredibly disappointed to have lost out to their old rivals.

Germany were reduced to ten players after just 12 minutes when a crazy moment of madness from Hendrichs saw her dismissed for pulling the hair of Mbock. Grace Geyoro converted the resulting penalty and France had a goal and a player advantage.

However Chelsea midfielder Nusken, hit back with a bullet header ten minutes later after some desperately poor set-piece defending from France. From that moment it became defend at all costs for Germany.

The star of the show was Ann-Katrin Berger who made a remarkable clawing save in extra time to prevent an own goal from Minge. 

Somehow Germany had forced the tie to penalties where Berger was the hero again. Having scored her own spot-kick, the Chelsea goalkeeper saved the final sudden death penalty from Alice Sombath to send Germany into the semi-finals of the tournament against all the odds.

Overview

France had been brilliant this tournament but they squandered a huge opportunity to reach the semi-finals against a Spain side who have been slightly less than perfect (a big difference to the last two years). Germany frustrated France but the French allowed themselves to be frustrated, playing into every single trap their opponents set.

The Germany win has really shaken up the tournament draw, setting what seems to be a clear pathway to another England-Spain final.

As well as the fallen giants mentioned above, Sweden will be disappointed that they couldn't keep up their semi-final record, especially after putting just two of their seven penalties past Hannah Hampton in the shoot-out.

Ultimately though, France and Sweden both had the chances to have won their respective ties long before the penalty shoot-out. The sides left in the tournament are still in Switzerland for a reason; they have earned it.