Women’s Euros 2022 Kicks-Off at Manchester Tonight
The Women’s Euro 2022 Tournament kicks off in Manchester at Old Trafford tonight. England is second-favourites and faces Austria in the tournament’s opener. A record 500,000 tickets have been sold for the competition, and over 250 million are expected to watch on television.
England’s Euro Opener Takes Place at Old Trafford Tonight © Pixabay.
The first Women’s European Championship for five years starts at Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium tonight. Organisers have confirmed that 500,000 tickets have been sold for the tournament, twice as many as the previous Euros held in 2017 in the Netherlands.
Over 70,000 tickets have been sold for tonight’s opening fixture between England’s Lionesses v Austria, the first of 31 matches spread over 25 days.
Bumper TV audiences are expected, especially in the UK, as all games will be televised live by the BBC.
Sixteen teams will compete. These are;
Group A: England, Austria, Norway, Northern Ireland.
Group B: Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland.
Group C: Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Portugal.
Group D: France, Italy, Belgium, Iceland.
Group A games will be held at Manchester (Old Trafford), Southampton, and Brighton. Group B venues are Milton Keynes and Brentford. Group C matches will be played at Leigh and Sheffield (Bramall Lane). Group D games will be played at Manchester (Academy Stadium) and Rotherham.
Nadine Kessler, Uefa chief of women’s football, said: “We can’t wait to get the ball rolling,”
Over 99 countries have purchased tickets for the tournament and of the 500,000 tickets sold, Kessler said: “Who would have thought that for a women’s tournament?”
“That is simply fantastic. It shows how high our expectation is and what we want to achieve.” With the Women’s football World Cup coming in 2023 as well, interest in women’s football is on an upward trajectory.
Which Teams Are Likely to Challenge at Euro 2022?
Women’s football in Europe is flourishing, and six of the best-ranked teams in the world will be competing and four of the top five.
These are Sweden (2nd), France (3rd), Netherlands (4th) and Germany (5th). Spain is the seventh-ranked team, and England is the eighth.
In terms of betting, Spain is the bookmaker’s favourite at 7/2. However, their chances have taken a blow due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury to their best player, Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder Alexia Putellas.
England is the bookmaker’s second favourite to win the competition at 4/1. The Lionesses are on a remarkable run of 14 games unbeaten and have come close on two previous tournaments. In the first women’s Euros in 1984, they lost to Sweden and also lost in the final in 2009, beaten by Germany in Finland. However, they did gain a degree of revenge against Germany by beating them 3-1 in the inaugural Arnold Clark Cup in February.
England is managed by Sarina Wiegman, the manager who guided the Netherlands to victory five years ago.
Arsenal’s Leah Williamson is the captain of the English women and said: “This is going to be the biggest women’s event in Europe ever,”
“It’s going to be really exciting but it can also cause a little stress. There are going to be expectations but we have to embrace it.”
“This is a chance to make everyone proud.”
Other teams the bookmakers expect to challenge are France (5/1), Netherlands (6/1), Sweden (6/1), Germany (7/1), Norway (14/1) and Denmark (20/1).
Northern Ireland will be competing in the Euros for the first time. They are priced as rank outsiders at 500/1.
The 16 teams participating are split into four groups, and the top two in each group will qualify for the quarter-finals, which is a knock-out round.
All games featuring England and Northern Ireland will be shown on BBC One. All other games will be televised and shown on either BBC One or BBC Two. England’s match against Austria kicks off at 8 pm tonight and Northern Ireland’s first fixture, against Norway, is tomorrow.
