What can men learn from England’s women? Absolutely sod all; it’s not about them
As Chloe Kelly trotted forward like the world’s coolest dressage horse before despatching the penalty that sealed Euro 2025 triumph on Sunday night, she fired England to a level of glory scarcely imagined by previous generations.
From plucky contenders to major tournament winners to back-to-back champions – these are the worlds the Lionesses have conquered.
For England fans, decades of hurt have been swapped for months of agonising anticipation between tournaments in which their team will inevitably deliver deep runs.
The current England women’s side are a developmental success story of the highest order. Every 10 years or so, national federations around the world devise their latest masterplan to create a new crop of elite footballers ready to sweep all before them – usually by copying whoever was last to make it work. It rarely does. For England’s women, it unequivocally has. But not precisely as expected.
READ: 16 Conclusions on that Euro 2025 trophy win
Ever since their men’s team won the Euros in such style in 2008 – before adding a World Cup and a second Euro crown in quick succession – Spain have been the blueprint; possession is king and pressing is paramount. The English FA, on the men’s and women’s side, sought to produce their own Iniestas and Xavis. And in the likes of Phil Foden and Keira Walsh, England produced a decent approximation.
But even this clearly exceptional Lionesses unit cannot trade possession punches with the best pass masters. Whatever grand plan created them, this England team are not Spanish in constitution. If anything, they are German: a cast of excellent technicians but whose defining characteristic is simply winning.
As their undulating path to their second Euro title evidenced – with an opening-game defeat, extra time required in all three knockout rounds and penalties in two – this is a supremely talented and deep squad whose technical gifts are outweighed only by their undying resilience. They are the product of a concoction of variables and influences for which those who schemed their ascent long ago can only claim a smidge of credit.
Coaching standards at youth level in women’s football have improved exponentially over the last decade or so. The players who attend either club- or FA-run academies receive better technical instruction and a more structured development than ever before. But women’s football is still drastically underfunded at youth level in comparison to the men’s equivalent, and inner-city girls – due to the absence of a scouting system and with less access to academies predominantly based in leafy suburbs – are the most impacted.
So the grit and determination that have marked out England’s recent international successes more likely come from the hurdles these women have been vaulting most of their lives just to exist in the game. The players’ willingness to seek opportunities abroad has surely played a part, too.
Although the WSL has become one of the world’s foremost club competitions, the wages commanded even by its top players do not translate to the kind of generational wealth enjoyed by even middling Premier League stars. And with only 12 teams in the top flight, opportunities are not abundant. As such, many England players have decided to play overseas for periods.
Lucy Bronze and Walsh have played for Barcelona. Bronze has also played for Lyon, as has Alex Greenwood. Former Lionesses No.1 Mary Earps represents Paris Saint-Germain. Georgia Stanway plays for Bayern Munich. Esme Morgan and Jess Carter play in the United States and Alessia Russo was once a student-athlete for the North Carolina Tar Heels. These experiences will have thrust them outside their comfort zones, learning fresh tactical ideas, further sharpening their technical skills and fortifying them as people and players.
They have also fallen under the guidance of a serial winner in Sarina Wiegman. The Dutch coach has now won three European Championships in a row, having previously lifted the trophy with the Netherlands before transforming England into world-beaters after her appointment in 2021.
In her post-match interview after scoring the winning spot-kick to see off Spain in the Euro 2025 final, Kelly spoke of how the moment made her feel proud to be English. That’s a feeling that hasn’t always been easy to find of late, amid rising racial intolerance and political polarisation. But Kelly and co. represent the nation at its best: a group of young women from various ethnic, cultural and experiential backgrounds bound deeply by a common goal and who never leave the field before expending their every last ounce of effort.
But please don’t misinterpret this as a call for the England men’s team to learn lessons from the women in an effort to end their near-60-year drought at major tournaments. Their rise is singular and belongs to them. They are not a blueprint for their male counterparts. The Lionesses’ success is as uniquely female as it is inspirationally English.