A Guide to the 2022 Women’s Euros

The 2022 Women’s Euros kick off tomorrow, July 6th, 2022, as England host Austria at Old Trafford in Manchester. We hope you’ll find our Team-By-Team breakdown useful and hopefully answer some questions about soccer’s European powerhouses.

Where can I watch it?

Well… …if you’re Canadian and IN Canada during the event, absolutely nowhere. Apparently our progressive nation doesn’t have a sports broadcast media that’s equally as progressive and so Sportsnet (Rogers) and TSN (Bell) aren’t interested in showing any games. CBC Sports won’t broadcast them because they tend to only focus on Canadian related sports. Apparently not many organizations care as much about Women’s Soccer as BAS does. As to why Canada Soccer, Ontario Soccer, all the other provincial associations, etc. haven’t said anything and aren’t stoking a fire of discontent with regards to why no one is broadcasting the 2022 Women’s Euros, we suspect it’s because the only interest they have in high-level women’s soccer is when the Canadian Women’s National Team does something noteworthy because then, as Dr. Nick Bontis (President of Canada Soccer) said during the Canada vs. USA match in Hamilton earlier this year “…think of all the little Johnnies and Susies that will start registering for soccer…” …money. They just want registration money.

2022 Women’s Euros Teams

Using the Guardian UK’s team profiles, we’ve done our best to summarize what you should watch out for, well IF, that is, you could actually watch the matches in Canada.

Austria (Group A)

Manager Irene Fuhrmann has an exciting mix of young players and experienced veterans who will be looking to outdo their surprise semi-final finish as the 2017 Euros underdogs who achieved more than expected. The women’s game in Austria is still very much in its fledgling stage with only 7% of registered youth players. Keep an eye on Manuela Zinsberger (Arsenal), Viktoria Schnaderbeck (Arsenal) and Sarah Puntigam (Montpellier).

Belgium (Group D)

Belgium, whose women’s game is still entirely amateur, is one of the most proficient attacking sides in this 2022 Women’s Euros. Expect Tine De Caigny (1899 Hoffenheim) and Tessa Wullaert (Fortuna Sittard) to score at least a few goals despite the expectation that Belgium will not make it out of Group D.

Denmark (Group B)

Denmark with the runners up in 2017, losing to Netherlands in the final and there is, of course, expectation surrounding the squad at this tournament. Denmark is home to Chelsea FC start Pernille Harder and with a player of her calibre in the squad, it’s no surprise that big things are expected. Denmark can reasonably be earmarked as a potential title contender.

England (Group A)

Sarina Wiegman won the 2017 Euros with Netherlands and England, realizing perhaps that Phil Neville was WAY out of his depth (and thus shipped him off to lower grade soccer as he now manages MLS side Celebrity Miami or whatever they’re called), recruited her to try and finally bring England their second major trophy (last one was the 1966 WC). Shrewd move as the hosts. Additionally, England have players like their newly appointed captain, Leah Williamson (Arsenal), who looks to have been grown in a laboratory for the specific purpose of being England’s new star and undeniable leader. Millie Bright (Manchester City), Lucy Bronze (Barcelona), Beth Mead (Arsenal) and Fran Kirby (Chelsea) will all be sure to treat spectators to some exciting attacking football. (None of which are in Canada though, because we can’t watch here.)

Finland (Group B)

Anna Signeul is Finland’s manager… …and that’s it, that’s all we know. Finland are relative newcomers to European competition and we’ll have to watch (even though we can’t in Canada) and learn. Read the Guardian’s write up instead.

France (Group D)

Exciting, chaotic, exceptionally mercurial and rife with in-fighting and strife. Apparently the culture that often plagues the men’s team is contagious and perhaps it’s time we admit that perhaps COVID wasn’t the first 21st century plague to infect France. (Maybe it’s something in the wine?) France have, potentially, the vast majority of the talent in Europe, both on the continent and within the collection of islands that make up modern day Europe. Abductions, assaults, the virulent Lyon/PSG rivalry, accusations, cliques, managers ostracizing players… …it’s pure chaos but the talent. Oh dear me the talent… just watch (outside of Canada obviously) Marie-Antoinette Katoto (PSG)… …the Euros would probably be 32.8% less entertaining without her, at a minimum.

Germany (Group B)

Remember when World Cups were like ‘maybe Germany or Sweden can beat the USA’… …they rarely did, but those were really the only two anyone would even consider. Well Germany, the 8 time European Champions, have had to face reality the last decade and accept that the rest of Europe has caught up. Germany’s women are now fully professional and thus Bayern, Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg do well in the UEFA Champions League, with large attendance averages to boot. (Unlike with Canada who look at the rest of the world catching up to our progressive early adopters and *shrug* do nothing.) Sara Däbritz (Olympic Lyonnaise) is the key figure for Germany with young players like Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg) and Tabea Wassmuth (Wolfsburg) looking to make a global name for themselves.

Iceland (Group D)

Iceland have now reached four Euros in a row, just further evidence that Iceland’s planning and investment in youth soccer, that started two decades ago, is definitely paying off. The majority of the team is young and inexperienced but there is hope that perhaps this can be one of their best showings to date. Juventus Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir is the starlet the viking clapping travelers will be pinning a lot of their hopes on.

Italy (Group D)

Deviating from their mens program the Italian women have stuck with the stereotypical “we defend like nobody’s business” catenacio playing style of Italian teams from the 80s and 90s. But they do it well. It’s an art form in Italy, like painting ceiling and sculpting biblical figures with exposed… *ahem* …so much so that they didn’t concede a single goal from open play in the 2019 World Cup. Can Manuela Giugliano (AS Roma) and Flaminia Simonetti (AS Roma) pair up, like they do or their club side, to start unlocking opposition defenses to add some offensive thrust to balance Italy’s defensive impenetrability?

For those of you that are fond of Social Media, no one, and we do mean NO ONE, runs a better social media account than the AS Roma Women twitter admins.

Netherlands (Group C – Current Title Holders)

Seriously, two words for you with regards to the Dutch… Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal). That name should scare the absolute shit out of Canadians because if anyone is going to come after our dear Christine Sinclair’s international goal scoring record, it’s going to be Viv. She has 92 goals in 108 appearances and she’s ONLY 25. (Cries in Canadian eh!) But I have four more words for you, Daniella van de Donk (Olympique Lyonnais). Want two more? Jill Roord (Wolfsburg). Two more? Lieke Martens (Barcelona). We could just go on and on and obviously, with the only caveat being that their manager left after the last WC, Netherlands have to be clear favourites to win the 2022 Women’s Euros.

Northern Ireland (Group A)

Northern Ireland are participating in their first ever major tournament and are vastly considered massive underdogs. (All teams who wear green should be, like, are you trying to blend with the pitch?) Their manager Kenny Shiels will probably be short listed to run a youth club in Ontario when some other ex-pat steps down from their role, so we guess he’s the one to keep an eye on. Read the Guardian’s take on Northern Ireland.

Norway (Group A)

Ada F#$@ing Hegerberg, Ballon d’Or winner, has returned to Norway. Please, please, please familiarize yourself with Hegerberg (Olympique Lyonnaise) if you don’t know much about this prolific and proficient Norse striker. Norway’s target is the semi-finals. They know they’re not quite top 3, but the ball is round, this is knockout football, so they’re willing to see what happens should they reach the semi finals.

Portugal (Group C – Replacing Russia)

Like Oligarch riches Russia’s 2022 Women’s Euro spot was seized and promptly handed over to Portugal who had just narrowly missed out. Pedro Neto is a phenomenal manager and Portugal has (like many other progressive European Nations in recent memory) really started to take the women’s professional game seriously. Keep an eye out (lol, on what channel?) for Jéssica Silva, the first Portuguese woman to win a UEFA Champions League title (with Lyon) and who now, at age 27, with a well stamped passport, has a ton of experience she can apply to try and bring about some ‘cup-sets’.

Spain (Group B)

Their women’s matches set record attendances and Barcelona are flying high as potentially, the soon to be ‘best women’s professional team in the world’, and while they do have international stars from other nations, a huge swath of that Barcelona side are homegrown players. (Not starting a Catalan/Spain debate, k?) Alexia Putellas (Barcelona), on her day, is as fun to watch as Messi in his prime. (Remember the good ol’ days before he went to PSG and just made things awkward?)

Addendum: On the eve of the tournament news was leaked that Alexia Putellas has a serious knee sprain. Which sucks, because she is an absolute treat to watch.

Sweden (Group C)

Kosovar Aslani, Sweden’s talismanic striker recently made her way to Real Madrid as Spain’s big clubs attempt to replicate the rivalries from their men’s game in their women’s sides. Sweden have always paid a lot of attention to women’s football and it shows – on selecting a team, manager Peter Gerhardsson recently said “It’s never been this tough.” Why? Options. There is a lot of talent coming out of Sweden and players like Johanna Rytting Kaneryd (BK Häcken) are clear evidence of that. Look for Sweden (in online searches for tournament results because it’s not being televised here) to make a top 4 finish.

Switzerland (Group C)

Once a week during the Women’s Super League season in England, there’s a decent number of people thinking “Lia Wälti is just the perfect midfielder!” And well, she may well be. But with players like Bachmann (Olympique Lyonnaise), Crnogorcevic (Barcelona), Maritz (Arsenal) and Fölmli (SC Frieburg) she has quite the support system to make some real noise in the 2022 Women’s Euros.

Viewing Update

BAS has learned that the 2022 Women’s Euro’s can be streamed directly from UEFA.tv. You will have to either create an account, but it is entirely free and not geo-blocked. (Still doesn’t make up for the fact that the major Canadian broadcasters are willingly ignoring this event while still fleecing us all with their insanely high cable package prices.)

Check out the schedule here and make sure to tune in to the matches you want to see most.