Lionesses reign again: Euro 2025 final review: Women’s Football Weekly

24:23It was really lovely. It's the first time I've probably experienced following England like this in such a long time since I've been England correspondent. first time I've sat and experienced it with my family and that's when you actually realise when you when you're so used to working in football that you experience these moments with your football colleagues etc and the incredible privilege that we have being so close to the action but actually it takes you back to being a kid when before you worked in football where you experience the moment with your friends and your family and I found it really fascinating particularly particularly watching my niece who's not a massive football fan at all in fact we you know quite literally drag her sometimes to Kenneworth Road like you're gonna be on your own tonight Annabelle so you might as well come to the football but watching her you know saying oh my goodness Michelle Adjumang's the same age as me she loves Chloe Kelly as well she's just got this obsession now with with Chloe Kelly she went I really like everything about her I like her swagger she says and this is the thing those stories capture different people for different reasons and you know Chloe Kelly and watching what she's done and how coolly and calmly she's done it the year that she's had Soph I mean it's a definition of a roller coaster isn't it same as with a few of the other lionesses as well but a story of resilience on a personal and a team

25:43Tom Garry:level for her absolutely and I can honestly say that when she walked up to take that penalty I I had absolutely no doubt that she was going to score it. She just has that self-confidence and awe about her. And Tom pointed out to me last night that Lucy Bronze had actually been on the bench telling everyone to calm down because she knew that Chloe Kelly had this. And yeah, it's been an incredible year for her. You think back to September where she was in sort of not out of favour, she was out of favour with Gareth Taylor at Manchester City. She wasn't getting minutes. It got to Christmas. Her game time was limited.

26:17Tom Garry:Her spot with England was, you know, kind of up for grabs. It wasn't guaranteed that she was going to make this tournament this summer. And she made that deadline day move to try and force a move to get herself some game time. And I mean, what a decision to do that. It's a very brave decision, I think, because a lot of players would not have the courage to do that. But yes, it paid off. She went and had a brilliant second half of the season at Arsenal, you know, won the Champions League. and now she's got a Champions League medal and a second European title to her name. And I think, I don't know, I was quite pleased with myself last night in the press conference because I think I got the line at the press conference yesterday because I asked her about, you know, that journey she's been on and she's been asked so many times, but now that she was sat there with the medal around her neck, what it felt like.

27:05Tom Garry:And she said, thank you to everyone that wrote me off. I'm grateful. And I was just like, that just sums her up to the T, just like the absolute like aura of the player that she is. And you talk about stories, right? There's so many, like, I don't think I know, I've known an England team quite like this. There's always little stories that go on. But when you think about Ella Toon, like what she's been through this year with her dad going, passing, you know, Beth Mead with her mum since 2022. And it's just absolutely heartbreaking for them all. But they've kind of pushed through, they've found a strength from somewhere just to find a delight in playing football and get to this level and just keep going.

27:46Tom Garry:And a lot of us, I think, if we've gone through that, you'd want to sit on the sofa and cry and give up. And they haven't. And I think that's a testament to the characters in this team that they can not just pull through individually, but pull through together. Yeah, it's the bravery in talking about it as well. You know, it would have helped so many more people than they'll ever really truly know as well. I'll tell you the one person, you know, We've mentioned so many of the players, but the main person who's the architect of all of this, we haven't heaped praise on yet. And we absolutely should do, Susie.

28:21Three back-to-back European trophies for Serena Wiegmann is just some incredible achievement. Just getting to five major finals in a row is special. She wants that World Cup so desperately, doesn't she? I'm sure now. It's like Euros completed it, ticked it, triple whammy. But how does she just keep doing this time and time again? How does she keep her consistency?

28:47Suzy Wrack:I don't think she knows. She certainly seems like quite taken aback by it. But what a record, like five major tournaments as a manager, five finals, three trophies. It's like staggering, like truly staggering. and yeah so much so much love for it for us as well and for our industry and for the growth of the game like I mean we just we couldn't ask for much more really but yeah I mean the World Cup is obviously the missing one two finals two silvers and that'll be wanted I think what is going to be really interesting is to see what England look like moving forward with Arjan leaving to manage the Netherlands because they've been such a formidable partnership.

29:33Suzy Wrack:You know, he's a real tactical mind alongside her. She, like, they work so well together. They're so, she's talked about as being really instinctive. Like, they really understand exactly what the other is thinking football-wise. So I think that's going to be really interesting to see what Serena without her, like, right hand looks like and whether the new one fits as well. So, yeah, I think that's going to be a big test moving forward. But like, you know, she was a hugely successful manager before that, too. So I'm sure we'll see, you know, plenty more. I just, yeah, like I say, I said earlier, she could, you know, do anything.

30:13Suzy Wrack:She could tank the England team for time immemorial when I would be still wanting the statue built and going to shine it every single day and lay flowers at its feet. So, yeah, she can do no wrong. we will talk about Spain in a second but I just want to mention the fact that Michelle Adjumang was named young player of the tournament which I don't think any of us realised until she kind of stood there this huge beam on her face the guard of honour from all the lionesses and she danced her way through to the middle to then go and collect it what an incredible moment for her Tom

30:50Faye Carruthers:yeah what a cool customer She's so mature for her age, but seemed to just revel in that moment. And all the players, whenever they talk about her, talk about someone who's not been phased by this at all. Her story's fantastic. This time last year in the under-19 Euros, I think scoring a hat-trick against Lithuania, to now be the young player of this tournament, she's the breakthrough star. She's been fantastic. And I'm just fascinated now to see what happens with her season. Does she go for another loan spell to start week on week? Does she push for games at Arsenal? Do they have a three-way striker battle between Lusso, Blaxinius and Ajman or does somebody leave?

31:29Faye Carruthers:I think it's a really interesting situation now because England and her, of course, will want to kick on with her career now and I'm so excited to see what the future brings for her. She's an example of somebody who'll be in their pit years when the UK hosts the World Cup in 2035. She'll be 29 years old, which is quite an exciting thing to think about. Oh, wow. I hadn't even thought about that. What a brilliant point. I tell you what I really wanted. I wanted the kit man to wheel out her piano for someone to tinkle it as she walked onto the stage. That would have been wonderful. Where she obviously was delighted with the accolade that she had received.

32:09Itana Bonmati had to walk up on stage as a member of the losing side, but having been awarded player of the tournament, which I'm sure she will reflect on positively at some point, but certainly yesterday was not the point that she was going to reflect on that. Personally, I've really felt for her having to go up and accept that. What does Spain take away, Soph, from this tournament as a whole? Obviously, they wanted to add a European title to their trophy hall. It's been an incredible year for them or cycle for them. What do they take from this?

32:46Tom Garry:I think they can take an awful lot. They played very well in parts. I think they offensively are probably the best team in Europe going forward. I think where they fall down is defensively. And I've said that throughout and sometimes people don't agree with me. But I think maybe they will learn from this that you can't just live on an attacking structure. They do fall behind when they're thinking about their defensive actions. and that's something for them to build on, I think. They've developed a lot in the last two years since that World Cup win in terms of adding more directness to their play.

33:21Tom Garry:It didn't quite work against England yesterday. They got in over the top a couple of times, that ball from Olga Camona into Esther Gonzalez, but it wasn't really as frequent as maybe we've seen at times this tournament. But they have added that side to their game and they had the best midfield on the planet in terms of those three playing. And when you think about the age of their squad, They're not going anywhere anytime soon. They've got another couple of tournaments in them, I think. So it's going to be interesting to see how they rebuild or refocus ahead of the World Cup because they want to defend their title, that's for sure.

33:56Tom Garry:But yes, this one, I think for them, will feel like the one they got away a bit. Not because England weren't really... They came up against a really strong opponent in England in the final, but they were so desperate to get that European Championship on their name. It's the one trophy they haven't won. Also, I guess, part of me feels to them not too much because I wanted England to win but I really wanted to have their moment of celebration where they could really, really celebrate and I hope that comes in the future because they've got such good players they've managed to change Spanish football in a lot of ways they've still got a long way to go they've been leaders at the forefront of that and their moment in 2023 was ruined and still a really sad part of that whole story but they'll come back they've got the players to do it I think they'll learn a lot from that experience as well.

34:43Tom Garry:You know, they can't just get through on pure offensive football, attacking football. No, although they did have their chances. You know, I think it's important to highlight Salma Paraluelo came on and she got herself in brilliant positions, but just had no finish at all. And then obviously stepped up and pulled her penalty wide as well. She was so good in 2023. I think she'll be incredibly disappointed with that performance. I think that's also the problem as well, because they registered, what, five shots on target, I think, which was the same as England, despite having 22 created. I can't remember the exact stats, but something along those lines.

35:17Tom Garry:They had the same on target as England, and that's just not being effective enough in terms of, yes, you can hit the ball towards the goal, but if you're not making it count, it's not really being effective in what you're doing. So they have to re-look at that a bit because I think it has happened a couple of times this tournament as well, where we've kind of dusted over it a little bit. Well, they missed that number nine. You know, we've mentioned it. They are the complete package if they can get that. Looking forward, Susie, the Lionesses fly home today. We're recording on Monday morning. They're going to go to Downing Street later on to meet the Deputy Prime Minister, I believe, before they're going on a bus parade and having a celebration outside Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.

35:59I mean, there is an explanation of the growth because we were at Trafalgar Square in 2022 and it was absolutely heaving and they needed more space. They've gone and given them more space by giving them the mall, essentially. How is the impact, though, of this win going to differ from 2022?

36:18Suzy Wrack:Oh, I'm going to be on holiday. I did tentatively look at Skyscanner to see whether I could get a flight back from Basel tomorrow morning and then get a flight to Munich in the evening but I thought it ended in Warsaw but I haven't even suggested it No, it's huge What's incredible is obviously 2022 got people on board and this tournament, if anything, I think has been more special because it's shown the impact of 2022 because the number of travelling fans I think everyone was a little bit like, oh, can they do it on foreign soil? Like they had the huge home crowd advantage in England. They've had a home crowd advantage here, right?

36:58Suzy Wrack:Like majority of the games they've played, the fan base has vastly outnumbered their opponent. Like it's been phenomenal. And the work that's been done, praise for Debs at the FSA, who's been plugging away for so long, alongside the FA, like backing what they were doing and them coming together in partnership and like funding Lionesses HQ and going in collaboratively was massive. Well, this is the difference. We've gone from free Lionesses in a pub, you know, in 2019 in France. That was my first experience of free Lionesses. And there were literally, I don't know, 20 people in a pub. And now Lionesses HQ just looked in Zurich, looked incredible.

37:37Suzy Wrack:And thousands on the fan march as well. Yeah, it's just been like an epic, epic effort. And this is Deb Stillworth, by the way. Remember her name, everybody, because she works tirelessly behind the scenes. Absolute hero. And then also the fact that after that first game, they were in knockout tournament football. And, you know, the incredible Sweden victory, the incredible Italy victory, and then this incredible comeback from behind in the final. Like that is like people invest in emotion and feeling. That's what gets them going. and there's been so much of that in this tournament. I think it's just exposed it to a whole new layer of people in a really, really dramatic way.

38:18Suzy Wrack:And yeah, who knows what the impact will be. I think it's going to be massive. I think it's going to be really, really, really big. Yeah, I agree. Right, that's it for part one. In part two, we're going to have a look back at the highlights from the past month and we'll go over our predictions that thankfully are still terrible.

38:46welcome back to part two of the guardian women's football weekly we will get to our predictions in a second but it has been quite a month of football hasn't it i mean you guys have all been out in switzerland for the entirety of it i've had massive fomo however i have enjoyed watching it from a very different perspective back home in many ways and looking at the tournament more as an overview. But what have you made? Who wants to go first in terms of what have you made of the tournament overall?

39:16Faye Carruthers:Switzerland have been fantastic hosts in terms of the infrastructure has been brilliant. The buy-in from the public here has been wonderful to see. The atmosphere has been great. And I've loved how so many games that didn't have loads riding on them were still packed out. Games like Denmark-Poland, when both teams were going home, still a lovely atmosphere, really, really exciting. So that's been a step forward. And despite the fact that we had larger stadiums for the opening game and final in England, they've still managed to surpass the attendance comfortably from 2022. So they've been really good hosts.

39:53Faye Carruthers:I think now, realistically, this event has outgrown a country with the stadiums of the size of Switzerland. So I don't think it will ever come back. I think we will now see this kind of tournament kick on and continue to get better and better, really. but my overriding memories of this beautiful place will be the fan walks that we've seen, the lovely old towns and this whole country kind of getting on behind women's football. That's been really lovely to see. Yeah, maybe send it somewhere cheaper next time is another idea. Although still somewhere that has cheese, I would suggest. What have been your defining moments of the tournament, Susie?

40:29Suzy Wrack:I mean, everything Tom just said, I completely echo the vibe out here has been phenomenal. And yeah, the Swiss, like I said, the Switzerland-Spain game is one of the best atmospheres at a stadium that I've ever been in. It's just been absolutely incredible. And then there's been all these sort of key moments, Lucy strapping her leg, Anne-Catrine Burgess save, Chloe's smile at the keeper in the shootout against Sweden. Like there's just been all of these like fantastic images of the tournament that I think are going to go down in history and will be shared and will become memes. And I just love that.

41:09Suzy Wrack:I love that it's gone so utterly mainstream through all of these stills. Listen, I have to ask you something, because in Australia you were lino-cutting. What artistic endeavours have you been up to in Switzerland? Doing it again, I'll show you. I'll share it on social media at some point. I've been working on an A4 of the, I've shown the others beforehand. So you've got basically an A4 sheet of lino for people listening with various images from the tournament carved into it. And then when I get home, I'm going to print it as an A4 print. So I've got Anchor Jean Burgess saving there. I've got Lauren James's Selly from Her Goal.

41:51Suzy Wrack:I've got Michelle Adjaman praying to the sky after hers. Chloe leaning on the corner flag, Alexia Puteus bowing, Lucy strapping her legs, but then also little things from around Zurich. The traffic lights, the floaty, unicorn floaties for floating on the river, save us goat note. Just fun things, basically. So that's what I've been doing. Where's the fondue? A fondue is going on. A fondue is lined up. I absolutely love it. Do you know what? You're going to have to start, you know, the tattoos that you got. I mean, firstly, one of the first things I should have asked you, Susie, is what is your new tattoo in celebration?

42:33Suzy Wrack:My shout across the across the streets last night as we left the pub was we're all getting matching tattoos, right? The take up wasn't that high. No, funny that. But, you know, but we moved. But some of those images you need to give them to tattoo studios. They're brilliant. Let's see what David Squires comes up with and maybe I'll get another one of his on me. I love that. I love that. In terms of what it's going to do for the women's game in Switzerland, Soph, how much is this opportunity going to change things out there? What are you expecting?

43:07Tom Garry:I think it's a real opportunity and it's a different dynamic, I guess, to 2022 and what happened with England winning it and stuff. I mean, England are so much further along in the journey, right? And in terms of the investment, the fact that football in England is the biggest sport, is everywhere, is sort of ingrained in the culture. That's a very different story to over here. They love football, but it's not as intrinsic to their everyday life, I guess, as it is back home for a lot of people. So I think it's a very different landscape, that's for sure. But they've really got to seize this opportunity.

43:44Tom Garry:And the players, I think I said it in a previous pod, that the players have done their bit. They came out, they performed, and they formed that bond between the fans and the stands and what they did on the pitch. And they got people behind them, got people marching. And now it's up to the Swiss Federation to really try and make that count. Because you can't let, like they're not, as Tom said, this is not going to happen again for Switzerland. they're not going to get a tournament the women's game is just getting too big that a small country just isn't going to get the hosting rights I don't think so they really need to see this as a once in a lifetime opportunity and I think the players really get it Leah Valti said it like this was her once in a lifetime getting to lead her team out at a major tournament at home but I really really hope the federation have it all in place that they can take opportunity of girls wanting to play football boys wanting to play football making it accessible for people because that's the key legacy of this whole thing is growing the sport and getting people interested not just at an elite level but just playing the game and wanting to have fun with it and using it as a tool to make friends and learn how to behave socially and stuff like that there's so many tools that football can teach you and it's such a powerful thing that you can use so I just really hope that they do have the plans in place to make it count.

45:08And with that in mind, Tom, just quickly, with records kind of broken both in the stadia and the viewing figures back home as well, the fans travelling out in their thousands, what do those numbers say about where the sport is when you consider where it's come from?

45:25Faye Carruthers:Well, I think it's encouraging, I think, and we're waiting to hear the TV viewing figures for last night in the UK. I would imagine they're going to break records. The thing that encouraged you most about the audience figures, Faye, was the interest from around Europe in matches that weren't involving the relevant domestic team. I heard something amazing yesterday that Germany's television figures for the England-Italy semifinal were nearly 8 million viewers at peak, which sort of blew my mind because that's the sort of figures we would see here for a group stage men's World Cup match. and Germany are getting that for a women's international that doesn't involve Germany.

46:09Faye Carruthers:So it's pretty special that there's that growth around Europe and that's really good to see. I think the challenge now is that the tournament needs to kind of take things to a new level. We want to see the next edition of these Euros break the million spectator mark, I think, for the cumulative attendance. That will be the target for them, which I think is achievable. and they need to think about minimum stadium size being raised so that somewhere like the City Academy Stadium, for example, the Joy Stadium can never host games again at this level. Sion and Tun, too small to host games at this level again.

46:44Faye Carruthers:So I think those are things that can be raised to raise the bar for next time. I received an email this morning and it'll be really interesting to go through these figures another time, actually. Now's not the time to go through it, but it was from the Swiss ramble with the revenue trend. And from 2005 to 2025, I mean, from 2022 to 2025, media rights have almost doubled. Basically, the events moved from being broadcast to a small niche market to being part of the mainstream. But the figures and commercial rights and everything else, it's fascinating looking at the jump. And that is only going to continue, I'm sure.

47:29We got this email in from Roy. Hi, my name's Roy, father of two daughters. By the way, not the only reason I'm a fan of women's football. I went to two group stage matches in Switzerland and spent the rest of the month enjoying the tournament with help from your excellent podcast. Thank you, Roy. I think we can all agree it was a successful and exciting Euro and one that's likely to strengthen women's football across Europe and beyond. Even in places where the sport isn't that strong yet, there's reason to be optimistic. Take Switzerland, the host nation. I imagine the effects of this summer will last for years.

47:57And Italy, a big country with a rich football culture, but still far from reaching its full potential in the women's game. Here is my question. What kind of impact, if any, do you think this euro might have on countries that didn't participate? On one hand, you'd hope the momentum spreads across the whole continent, but on the other, could it actually widen the gaps? A really good point. Looking at the participants in this year's euro, apart from Poland, they're all from Western or Northern Europe. is there a risk that women's football becomes a kind of closed club while in much of Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean the sports still keep struggling to grow?

48:32As someone living in one of those regions I'm hopeful but also a little worried when I see the gaps. What do you think Soph?

48:39Tom Garry:I think there is a wider impact to be had. You know nations who weren't at the tournament had it shown on broadcast so I just think about you say the Republic of Ireland and RTE was showing the games, even though they weren't there at the tournament. And I think that's had such a big impact in terms of visibility-wise, right? Not just, yes, their country isn't in the tournament, their stars aren't on the TV, but it just shows a growing impact and the growth of the sport, I guess. It's hard with the smaller nations as they're trying to develop. I still am not entirely convinced about the Nations League bridging that gap.

49:20Tom Garry:I still think League C teams get stuck in League C a lot of the time. They might float up to League B occasionally and then come back down. It's really, really hard. So I think investment needs to go on across the board. But examples of success and of investment from other federations, but also from branding and newspapers and brand partners and all of that, I think a lot of federations will now step up and think, oh we could have a bit of that you know a piece of the pie ourselves you know the return on I can't remember the figures but the return on investment on women's sport at the moment you know long term is predicted to be huge you just have to play the long long game a little bit so I would hope that the FAs from the you know more developing nations in terms of women's football will look at this as a real opportunity and and they have done in the past I remember going to North Macedonia when England played there.

50:19Tom Garry:And they really used that opportunity when England came to step up to their federation, the women's side of the FA, to step up to the bigger federation and say, we need to do something here. This is an example of what we could be trying to aim for. It's going to be hard. And they'd literally just released their women's football strategy at that point in time. And it takes time. It's all going to be small steps. But I think they they will start stepping up and taking notice. Yeah, it's a really interesting point. OK, listen, we need to go over our predictions. As you know, on the Guardian Women's Football Weekly, we are renowned for our absolutely terrible predictions.

50:59And I am delighted to say that we continued that trend because both Marva, Susie and Tom Gary all predicted that Spain were going to win this tournament. Uh-uh, it was wrong. Thank goodness. Producer Soph does tell me on the grapevine that she has been saying England are going to win the whole tournament. But do you know what? I don't think it's been recorded. So I'm not entirely sure we can fully take that on as a true Guardian Women's Football Weekly prediction, Soph, I'm afraid. I would just like to say, though, to take the plaudits, that in the preview pod, I did say that England were going to win.

51:36However, I did say they were going to win 3-2 in extra time. So don't give me that clap, Tom Gary. I'd normally take it and have a bow and a courtesy. However, I did not predict it was going to go to penalties again, although perhaps I should have done. So predictions were kind of good, kind of terrible. Sophie, you're right? I did promise.

51:56Tom Garry:Well, yes, I have Tom to back me up on my complete faith in England from the very beginning. So I think that counts as being recorded. But I was just going to say I did also promise Marva, who couldn't come on today, that I would shout out her dark horse's prediction. She was very determined that I gave her praise for that. Listen, we gave her praise in the podcast because she did say that Italy were going to be dark horses. But I have listened back. She also did predict that Italy were not going to get out of the group stage. So she can only really half have the prediction, I think. In fact, I was so excited for her in terms of the dark horse prediction that I put it in my intro and I said they were stallions, if you remember, after that game.

52:37However, she can't fully take it. She's still part of Guardian Women's Football Weekly royalty and still sticks with the fact that her predictions are pretty terrible like the rest of ours, I'm afraid. What I would like to do is go through some awards that I feel we need to give. So Italo Bon Mati was named player of the tournament, but was she your player of the tournament, Tom?

53:03Faye Carruthers:I think you have to give it to Chloe Kelly, someone who's come on and changed the game in all three knockout matches. Tournaments are decided by big moments and this is somebody who's delivered in all the big moments. So I would have given it to Chloe Kelly, the two crosses in the quarterfinal, the way she took her penalty in the quarterfinal, the winning goal in the semifinal, and then the cross for the assist in the final and the winning penalty in the final. That's a tournament winning impact. I think I would have gone Chloe Kelly even though Bon Mati is the most technically gifted player in the competition, it should be an England player and it should be Kelly.

53:40Felt a bit reputational based, didn't it? The decision to award it to Bon Mati. Soph, what about for you?

53:47Tom Garry:I would probably go Chloe Kelly too, although I would give a massive shout out to Patrick Guillaume of Spain because I don't think she gets the plaudits enough in terms of what she does for that Spanish team and all of the work that she puts in to allow Bon Mati and Alexia to do what they do. and that's not to take anything away from those two. They are two terrific individual technical players but she does the dirty work behind them as well as the brilliant work as well. So I think I'd give her a shout out too because she is massively overlooked at times. I'm just going to let you all know as well that Susie's had to jump off into a high-profile Guardian big-wig meeting such as the importance of the Euro 2025 win.

54:28She is going to see if she can join us back at some point but she's not giving her predictions for that reason. We haven't just muted her. Is there any other breakout star apart from Michelle Adjumang deserving of that award from us?

54:42Faye Carruthers:Well, let's give a shout out again to Iman Ben-A for Switzerland, New Man City signing. I thought played really well for the hosts. We should, I think we count Hannah Hampton as a breakout star on the kind of the big international stage. I know we know her really well domestically. And I would say in the group stage, Vicky Lopez played very very well as a breakout star but the answer you've already said it it's Adjomang she's the ultimate breakout star 19 years of age and the super sub

55:11Tom Garry:I just second Vicky Lopez I think the fact that she came in for Idanabu Mati in that midfield in the first two games and looked like she'd been playing this level of international football her whole life she just didn't look fazed by it at all as well as Michelle obviously Michelle is a breakout star but I just think she deserves There's so much credit. Can I also just give a slight apology to Tom because I'm going back through our predictions from early on in the tournament before everything kicked off. And Tom did say Spain would win, but then in brackets, but England and Germany are also very good.

55:46There was some quality fence sitting on there, but you can partly take a little bit of applaud it for England, I suppose.

55:51Faye Carruthers:But that's a good point though in how close it's been, right? The fine margins between England, Spain, Germany. I mean, England could have gone out in the quarterfinals if Falk had scored a penalty or Jakobsson had scored a penalty. So it's been very fine margins and I think all of us were right as a group to look at kind of that group of teams in England, Spain, Germany, Sweden and France who have all been really strong and that's so exciting for the level of the tournament going forward because it's going to be really close for many years to come. So Susie, and she's not here to defend herself, I'm afraid.

56:26When we were talking about how far England will go, Susie said it will be England against Spain in the semis or they'll finish second in the group and play Germany in the quarterfinal and that's the exit Marva said England would go out in the semifinals and Tom you also said that England would play Spain in the semis and lose on penalties and in fact we got to the final played Spain and won on penalties

56:49Faye Carruthers:we all thought they were going to win the group didn't we and they've had that collision course in the semifinal I think the shameless plug I will give is that I do think I said that the winner of the first semifinal would win the tournament, which has now happened 13 times in a row at men's and women's Euros and World Cups. So a conversation for another day, but I do wonder at what stage football will start to have an internal conversation about whether it's too big an advantage to play the first semifinal and have 24 hours extra rest, given how many successive tournaments have now had the first semifinal be the winner.

57:22And by the way, you did say that Iman Benet would be the player to watch. so you were correct on that one. Anyway, I digress. Let's go back. Game of the tournament. Which was your favourite game, Soph?

57:35Tom Garry:Ooh, that is tough. I thought Spain-Italy was a brilliant game despite the scoreline. I thought they matched each other up very, very well. From an England point of view, you have to look at that Sweden game. I know they had such a bad first half but the manner of a comeback, to come back from 2-0 down and save yourself and then just the whole drama of it all, right? The comeback, the extra time, the penalties, the absolute chaos of the penalties. No one really wanting to win it, I guess. I think that would probably be the one that lives in my memory for a long time. Tom?

58:09Faye Carruthers:Yeah, so for me, this was the Germany-France quarterfinal because of the non-stop drama. The red car, the disallowed goals, the save from Berger, the performance from Germany's 10 players. That was epic to be there in Basel for that quarterfinal. Yeah, I can imagine. I loved watching it. It was such a fun game. What was your favourite moment? So this probably would have been a question before last night. Yeah, if I'm taking the winning of the thing out of it, I think being in the stadium for Switzerland, Spain,

58:41Tom Garry:I wasn't in the press box that day. I was in the crowd and I was amongst the Swiss fans and you could just feel how special that moment was. I get very emotional, but it made me very, very emotional anyway. just seeing the way that they had a connection with the fans with the way that Pierre has really embraced this role as being the manager of Switzerland. She's managed some really big sides in her time, right? And Switzerland is a different project for her, I think. But she really, really gets it. And the way that she approached the tournament, yeah, that moment was just really special.

59:12Faye Carruthers:And for me, it would be the moment when Switzerland scored their 90-second minute goal to go through to the knockout stages. I was actually watching that game with a slight delay on the screen I was watching on in Zurich. So I heard the reaction from the city of Zurich outside the window before I saw the goal. And the kind of roar of noise and all the other balconies around Zurich that were all clearly watching the game. And that was just so lovely. That was the moment I really realised that the whole nation had kind of fallen in love with the tournament. And that will be my favourite moment for a long time because it was just such a nice noise to hear a city react to a goal with such joy.

59:56That's kind of similar to favourite memory. But what have you picked for favourite memory, Soph?

1:00:01Tom Garry:For me, it's getting to do this job is really special and getting to do it with my wife as well is very special. And also, you know, some of my best friends, I was sitting next to Susie yesterday in the press box. I sat next to every single England game. There are many others in that press pack who I consider really good friends. These moments, we shouldn't really take them for granted, I don't think. We're very, very lucky to do this job and to see England get to three finals, win two of them, has really changed our lives as well, in different ways, but as much as the players, it's given a lot of people employment and job.

1:00:36Tom Garry:It's kind of paralleled the growth of the sport. I count myself very lucky. And yesterday, I have to really thank Susie because she was on the whistle with her report and I was just literally bawling my eyes out. And she was on one hand typing on her keyboard and the other hand patting me on the back, just making sure I was OK. And I think those moments are just, yeah, priceless.

1:00:59Faye Carruthers:Yes, same as Soph, the memories around the winning moment for England. And actually, I was sat just underneath where Sophie and Susie were with the independents, Jamie Brabord, to my right. And he and I had speculated through the shootout, oh, do you think Kelly's on number five? And when Spain missed their penalty to set it up for Kelly to win it, we both sort of looked at each other and Jamie just said, Kelly to win it, like Kelly to win it. And we just realised this was the moment that was coming. And there were so many lovely memories there. the reaction of all the England's families and friends in front of us when the winning penalty went in.

1:01:34Faye Carruthers:You know, FA staff, the likes of Greg Dimitri on the communications team, just sort of leaping onto the pitch, hands on his mouth in complete disbelief. All of those little tiny moments of joy will be memories that we'll never forget. It was lovely. Etched, etched in your brain. I'm going to give the quote. My favourite quote was from Robin Cowan. It's burger time. Because that just had me howling. And I have to say, I felt as if I was cheating on Robin last night because I was listening to ITV's commentary at home because I knew I was on with Seb Hutchinson on Football Weekly this morning. And I thought it'd be rude not to listen to Seb's commentary if I was doing the pod with him.

1:02:15So sorry to Robin for that. Both friends of the Football Weekly crew for sure. Wow. Susie's got loads of them. I'm sure we'll talk about this again and again. But we have been bringing you all the latest for the Women's Africa Cup of Nations. And they had their final on Saturday. And it's Nigeria who have won the title for the 10th time. It was a sensational comeback win over Morocco, the hosts in Rabat. They had gone into a 2-0 lead, Morocco, thanks to goals from Jelaine Shibak and Sana Masoudi. But Esther Okorinkow pulled one back from the penalty spot before Isha Malusi levelled the score. Substitute Jennifer Escheghini scored the winner, though, in dramatic circumstances with just two minutes left to play.

1:03:05And actually, Morocco, unfortunate record holders now the first country to lose successive WAFCON finals. They lost to South Africa last time out. Painful for them, but absolutely incredible. They also scored twice as many goals against Nigeria as the rest of the champions opponents here all put together, which is some feat as well. But ultimately, it is Nigeria who win the title. Right, Susie is back. Susie, you have missed me absolutely hammering you for your terrible predictions of England going out at the quarterfinal stage or semifinal stage, depending on where they finished in the group.

1:03:43Tactical, tactical fate. You have also missed out on giving us your takeaways from the tournament. But I am going to leave you with the last word, if you like, and your biggest takeaway and your favourite moment from this tournament.

1:04:00Suzy Wrack:Oh, biggest takeaway. Just like the visual impact of seeing the success of 2022 in the way this tournament went in terms of like, obviously both the quality on the pitch. But in terms of like the fans and the way they travelled and the way they've supported this team and how vocal they've been, like it feels like a proper like away movement now, which I think is like really special and growing and just I wasn't expecting it. So that's what really got me. And then it's got to be Lucy Bronze strapping up her leg, right? Like she's just like now knowing that she also had a broken leg throughout that tournament and she's on the pitch strapping up her leg herself, ready to play on, playing through her teeth.

1:04:43Suzy Wrack:Just it's I just love it. I just I'm living for Lucy Bronze at the moment. Like I just think maybe that's the tattoo. Maybe her strapping her leg is a tattoo. I don't know. I don't know. We'll see. we shall see right it's been an absolute joy and a pleasure I've missed you all in Switzerland but I've loved hearing your tales of what sounds like a wonderful country and it has been a wonderful tournament Soph go and get some well earned rest please and some sleep going on holiday this afternoon so I can't wait oh oh oh out of office on Tom Gary a pleasure as always take care mate see you soon see you soon Susie Rack vegan cheese fondue vegan cheese vegan cheese fondue okay right I'm going to have to have you over for dinner and I'll make you a vegan cheese fondue we'll see how that goes I'm very excited about that you enjoy your holiday it has been very very well earned keep having your say as well send in your questions we love to get them either via social media or by emailing us at womensfootballweeklyattheguardian.com a reminder as always as well to sign up for our bi-weekly women's football newsletter.

1:05:56All you need to do there is just search Moving the Goalposts Sign Up. Listen, we are taking a little bit of a well-earned break before the Barclays WSL kicks off again in September. So we will be back to let you know when we will be back. But of course, you can listen to Football Weekly as well. They'll be updating you on everything that's going on in women's football as well as all of their usual stuff. So take care of yourselves. Enjoy a bit of a tournament break. The Guardian Women's Football Weekly is produced by Sophie Downey and Silas Gray. Music composition was by Laura Iardell. Our executive producer is Sal Ahmad.

1:06:35This is The Guardian.