Quarter-finals Highlights – Preview
Spain and England are the top two favourites to lift the trophy in Switzerland on July 27, with Spain up against the hosts Switzerland in the quarter-finals and England playing Sweden. Let’s take a closer look at the two quarter-finals featuring reigning champions England and world champions Spain!
Sweden vs. England
Stadion Letzigrund, Thursday @ 21:00 CET
Sweden won the tournament back in 1984, but the best since then is a loss in the 2001 final against Germany. The Swedes have been looking dangerous in this tournament, winning all three matches in the group stage, including a 4-1 win over Germany in the last match. Germany did get a red card about 30 minutes into that match, which made the task slightly easier for the Swedes.
Stina Blackstenius has been on fire lately, scoring the winner in the CL final, and she’ll be hoping to add to her 2 goals so far in the tournament against England. The Arsenal striker will be very familiar with a few of her opponents on Thursday, with Alessia Russo, Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Chloe Kelly all club teammates.
Other players to keep an eye out for in the Swedish team is Kaneryd of Chelsea, who have been in great form so far in the tournament, their captain Asllani and Fridolina Rolfö, the newly released Barcelona player who is back from injury.
England are favourites in this match, and the aforementioned Russo and Beth Mead are only two of the attacking threats they have in their arsenal. The defending champions lost their opening match to France, but it seems like that defeat was the wake-up call they needed to get things kicking off in the tournament.
A 4-0 win against 2021 champions Netherlands and a 6-1 thrashing of Wales ensured progress from the ‘Group of Death’, and they’re favourites against Sweden this Thursday.
Ella Toone has been impressive so far, and manager Wiegman will be happy with the amount of players that have chipped in with goals so far in Switzerland, including Beever-Jones, Hemp and Stanway. Lauren James could also be a pivotal player in this quarter-final. Will we be seeing the England of the latter two matches of the group stage here, or will the nerves from the opening day come back to haunt them here?
Spain vs. Switzerland
Wankdorf Stadium, Friday @ 21:00 CET
The world champions are not only big favourites to beat the hosts in this quarter-final, but they’re also tournament favourites. Spain breezed through the group stage, winning 5-0, 6-2 and 3-1 against Portugal, Belgium and Italy, respectively.
Their big star Alexia, a favourite to win the Player of the Year award, has been delivering the goods so far this tournament, scoring 3 goals and assisting four. Pina has had 6 attempts on target so far in the tournament, so Switzerland will probably be kept busy in defense.
Centrally, Bonmati till take charge, and with players like Paralluelo, Olga, Esther González (current top scorer in the tournament) and Alexia around her, this could become a very tricky match for the hosts.
Switzerland lost their opening match, but managed to grab a 2-0 win against Iceland and snatch a late equalizer against Finland, securing a spot in this quarter-final.
Arsenal player Lia Wälti will be key if Switzerland are to cause an upset in this match, while the home fans will be hoping to see strong performances from stars and talented players like Riesen, Reuteler and Pilgrim.
Switzerland’s goal difference so far in the tournament is at 4-3, while Spain’s GD is 14-3, so we could be in for a lot of goals in this quarter-final!
Please note that the odds might have changed since the writing and/or publication of this article.
Last updated: 15.07.25
