by Andrew Crawshaw
The Women’s European Championship gets underway this evening at a sold out Old Trafford with England playing Austria. All matches in the competition are being screened by the BBC with tonight’s coverage of the opening ceremony and match beginning at 7pm on BBC1.
The studio team is entirely an Arsenal flavour with ex gunners Alex Scott, and Fara Williams being joined by our current manager Jonas Eidevall. Three people who certainly know what they are talking about.
There are 16 teams who have qualified playing in four groups. First and second in each group qualify for the knockout stages with the final (also sold out) taking place at Wembley on July 31.
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
| England | Spain | Portugal | Belgium |
| Austria | Finland | Switzerland | Iceland |
| Norway | Germany | Netherlands | France |
| Northern Ireland | Denmark | Sweden | Italy |
The 10 Stadia being used are:-
- Old Trafford
- Leigh Sports Village (capacity 8,100 and home of Man United Women)
- Academy Stadium Manchester (capacity 10,000 and home of Manchester City Women)
- New York Stadium Rotherham (capacity 12,000)
- Bramall Lane Sheffield (opened in 1855, home of Sheffield United and one of England’s most historic stadia)
- MK Dons Stadium
- Brentford Community Stadium London
- St Mary’s Stadium Southampton (capacity 32,384)
- Amex Stadium Brighton
- Wembley Stadium (final only)
The Arsenal players in the final squads are:-
England
- Leah Williamson (CB/Midfield) – Captain
- Lotte Wubben-Moy (CB)
- Beth Mead (Forward)
- Nikita Parris (Forward)
Austria
- Manuella Zinsberger (GK)
- Laura Wienrother (RB)
Norway
- Frida Maanum (MF)
Switzerland
- Lia Wälti (MF) – Captain
- Noelle Maritz (RB)
Netherlands
- Vivianne Miedema (Forward)
plus a host of ex Gunners
Denmark
- Simone Boye (CB)
Sweden
- Stina Blackstenius (forward)
You can catch our players in action in the following group games :-
Tonight BBC1 20:00 k.o. England v Austria
Thurs 7July BBC1 20:00 at St Mary’s – Norway v Northern Ireland
Friday 8 July BBC1 20:00 at Brentford Community Stadium – Germany v Denmark
Saturday 9 July BBC IPlayer 17:00 Leigh Sports Village – Portugal v Switzerland
Saturday 9 July BBC1 20:00 Bramall Lane – Netherlands v Sweden
Monday 11 July BBC1 17:00 St Mary’s Stadium – Austria v Northern Ireland
Monday 11 July BBC1 20:00 Amex Stadium (sold out) – England v Norway
Tuesday 12 July BBC2 17:00 MK Stadium – Denmark v Finland
Wednesday 13 July BBC2 17:00 Bramall Lane – Sweden v Switzerland
Wednesday 13 July BBC2 20:00 Leigh Sports Village – Netherlands v Portugal
Friday 15 July BBC1 20:00 St Mary’s Stadium – England v Northern Ireland (sold out)
Friday 15th July BBC3 20:00 Amex Stadium – Austria v Norway
Saturday 16 July BBC4 20:00 Brentford Community Stadium – Denmark v Spain
Sunday 17 July BBC2 17:00 Bramall Lane – Netherlands v Switzerland
Sunday 17 July BBC IPlayer Leigh Sports Village – Sweden v Portugal
From an Arsenal perspective the highlights are probably going to be the three England games tonight, Monday 11th and Friday 15th along with the Netherlands v Sweden game on Saturday 9th where our two main strikers play each other.
I would expect the quarter finalists will be :-
Group A – England to win the group and Austria to be runners up
Group B – Netherlands to win with Sweden as runners up
Group C – Spain to win the group, the runner up is difficult to call probably Germany but both of Denmark or Finland are capable of spring a surprise
Group D – France to win the group from Italy (with Iceland an outside bet)
I know that all of the England group games and the final at Wembley are sold out so The BBC is the only option for watching these games. Tickets for the other matches may still be available but, in view of the limited capacities at the smaller grounds may well be in short supply check at UEFA.com.
Proper football and an Arsenal studio team to keep us amused between frantically checking on the latest men’s transfer rumours. Sounds like a winner to me
