Wiegman Calls for More Investment in Women’s Football After Euro 2025 Success

Sarina Wiegman Calls for More Investment in Women’s Football After Victory in the 2025 European Championship

England’s selector, Sarina Wiegman, urged for greater investment in women’s football during the celebration of the Euro 2025 success at a “very, very special” reception at 10 Downing Street on Monday. The Lionesses successfully defended their Women’s European Champions title after defeating Spain in the final in Basel, Switzerland, on penalties on Sunday. The team, which became the first English team to win a major tournament on foreign soil, returned home to attend a reception hosted by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Sports Minister Stephanie Peacock in central London. The team arrived just before 7 p.m. BST, and number 10 was decorated for the occasion with St George’s flags hanging from the windows and bunting along the railings.

As Wiegman went up to speak to those gathered in the Downing Street garden, she joked that “this is different from standing next to a field”.

Sarina Wiegman addressed the attendees in the garden of Downing Street.

I have to apologize for giving you many heart attacks. Everyone overcame it and so did we, and that’s why we are here now. The team is simply incredible, we won the European Championship, but reaching the final already makes us legendary, what the team and the team behind the team have done.

Sarina Wiegman

Wiegman, speaking a few hours before the UK government announced a new package of measures to boost access to grassroots football, seized the moment to call for more investment in the game.

This incredible team won the European Championship and immediately sent a letter to the Government, asking for attention and requesting access to football for all girls. Steps have been taken, but we are not finished yet, we have to move forward and we need a little more. We need more investment. We haven’t arrived yet. In England we are there, but England needs to continue to be the pioneer, it needs to be the great example. The players first, but also the FA, the clubs, the Government, the country, the fans: let’s continue to be the pioneers.

Sarina Wiegman

In her own speech, Rayner congratulated Wiegman’s team for defending their title “with courage, determination and skill”.

You roared, and I know I wasn’t the only one who roared with you.

Angela Rayner

England players and staff met with Deputy Prime Minister Angela Raynor at Downing Street.On Monday, after almost a month of competition in Switzerland, the team’s plane, marked with the word “home”, landed at London Southend Airport. In a social media post, the team shared a photo of the Euro trophy wrapped in an England flag on an airplane seat. Leah Williamson was the first to get off the plane alongside Wiegman. A stop on an open-top bus in central London on Tuesday, where there will be a procession along The Mall and the celebration will end with a staged ceremony in front of Buckingham Palace. Defender Jess Carter has not joined her teammates for celebrations in London, as she has returned to the United States ahead of Gotham FC’s NWSL match against the Chicago Stars on Saturday. King Charles III said the team had the “warmest appreciation and admiration” of the royal family following their victory. “The next task is to bring home the World Cup in 2027 if possible,” he added.