At club level, French women's football has enjoyed rich success in Europe in recent years, with Lyon winning their second consecutive Women's Champions League title in Cardiff in June - and the national team is targeting European glory too. But a lot of their big names have retired. They are so gifted and talented, and that group of players have been playing together for quite a long time. Also tipped for a strong tournament are England, who want to improve on their impressive third place at the World Cup.
The Lionesses were unbeaten during qualifying for the Euros, winning seven of their eight matches, and conceded only one goal in the process. Manager Mark Sampson named his squad more than three months before the tournament, and his side have performed well during their warm-up fixtures, beating fellow qualifiers Austria, Switzerland and Denmark. France are the only team England have not beaten in this modern era of women's football.
I've learnt to trust Mark and his methods. After their silver medal at Rio , Sweden should not be underestimated. Spain also have a talented squad, and four years ago they stunned England with a win in the group stages of the Euros. Norway, runners-up in , have reached two of the past three finals and - as two-time winners - are the only country other than Germany, or West Germany, to have won the competition since Leading the attack for the Oranje will be new Arsenal Ladies striker Vivianne Miedema, who scored 14 goals in 22 Bundesliga games for Bayern Munich in They will be backed by lively home crowds, with all three of their group-stage games having sold out well before their opener against Norway on Sunday.
Scotland Women have qualified for their first major championship at the 14th attempt. Led by coach Anna Signeul, who will leave her role following the Euros after 12 years in charge, the Scots qualified as runners-up to Iceland thanks to wins - home and away - over Slovenia, Belarus and Macedonia.
But injuries have robbed them of some of their key players, including Arsenal playmaker Kim Little and Manchester City centre-back Jen Beattie. The Scottish Football Association and women's national team had been involved in a dispute over financial, commercial and equality matters, but the issue was resolved in June.
The players had refused to take part in media or promotional work, but once resolved, hailed the agreement as a "historic moment" towards "achieving equality".
The tournament winners will earn 1. Uefa only introduced prize money for all the finalists of the women's Euros as recently as the tournament. Teams will be allowed to make a fourth substitution during extra time of matches, as Uefa continues a trial of the rule.
European football's governing body has already trialled the change at the men's European Under Championship and both the men's and women's under tournaments. Additionally, referees will have the power to show yellow and red cards to non-playing staff in the technical area.
Everything you need to know to make sure you never miss a moment. The Netherlands were declared hosts in December and were the first nation to host the expanded competition from 12 teams in the previous edition to 16 teams.
The aim of this project was to encourage fans and staff to include an active component in their journey to host stadia, helping to increase their physical activity levels, whilst also reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions and ease congestion from the use of private vehicles. With the support of a specialised technology firm, Healthy Stadia designed and developed a mobile application that provided route-planning and wayfinding information for fans and staff who chose to walk or cycle to matches during the tournament.
App users who covered a minimum distance were entered into a competition to win tickets for the Final in Enschede and other assorted tournament prizes. Users also received a breakdown of their stats including the distance they covered, the number of calories they burned travelling to matches and the volume of CO 2 they had helped to save.
UEFA Ambassador Pierre van Hooijdonk also supported the launch of the App, participating in a photoshoot to generate interest in walking and cycling to matches at the tournament. The Active Match App was a huge success encouraging thousands of fans to reconsider how they travel to sports stadia and to include an active component in their journey.
One user in France commented:. Just over half of users were from the Netherlands indicating that active travel projects may have potential to encourage both home and away fans to consider walking or cycling to sports fixtures.
Find out more about Healthy Stadia and the Healthy Stadia concept.
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