Women’s Euro 2025: Switzerland breaks crowds

With 29 of the 31 games with closed counters, nearly 657,300 spectators throughout the tournament, Euro 2025 broke the public record for this competition which saw the second consecutive coronation on Sunday from England and a rain of goals.

Switzerland was leaving from afar. While the national team attracted few people and the championship is not very developed, filling the stadiums over a month of competition seemed complicated. But ultimately this 2025 edition broke the last record for England in 2022 (574,875) with 657,291 spectators throughout the Euro, according to UEFA (247’041 in 2017).

In the fan zones of the country, the supporters came in number in an always jovial atmosphere, even if it is especially in Basel, where the most meetings took place, that there were the most entertainment.

The only small shadow on the board for UEFA is the absence of its president Alexander Ceferin during the matches, apart from one at the start of the competition and for the final.

“I can’t just judge his commitment to women’s football according to the matches he assists or not. People should judge what we have accomplished during his mandate. At the end of our cycle, UEFA will have invested 1.5 billion euros, ”replied Guardian Nadine Kessler, head of women’s football within the body.

On the grounds, the matches were tightened with few one -way confrontations and many reversals of situations, of which England has made a specialty by leading to the score less than five minutes on the entire axteret phase.

Many meetings were played after regulation time or even on penalties and the goal record of 2022 was broken at the quarterfinals stadium with 106 achievements (95 in 2022).

After two euros won by the organizing nation, the Netherlands in 2017, then England in 2022, the craze of the Swiss public seemed more uncertain for a selection far from European cadors, and which had never crossed the hens.

Despite their inexperience and the defeat in the opening against Norway (2-1), the teammates of Lia Wälti knew how to beat Iceland 2-0, to tear a 1-1 draw at the finish synonymous with qualification for the quarters against Finland, then fall high head in front of a future finalist Spain (2-0).

“We lost a match, but we won a lot all around the field. This is a starting point, a takeoff for Switzerland, ”said the Swedish selector Pia Sundhagus.

Beyond the already fulfilled talent of Géraldine Reuteler and the promises of young Sydney Schertenleib, Iman Beney or Noemi Ivelj, all aged 18, there were “all these people” stayed long after the final whistle to thank their players, underlined the technician.

The Swiss, who had never played in front of more than 10,000 people at home, filled the Basel enclosure, that of Geneva and twice the Wankdorf of Bern, even drowning the historic city center of the capital of 20,000 supporters before the quarterfinals.

For the 35% of foreign spectators, “representing 160 nationalities” according to UEFA, the euro will remain inseparable from the discovery of Swiss public transport, their metronomic service and their breathtaking views of lakes and mountains.

Not only were trains, trams and even boats included in the purchase of a ticket, a formula already in force for major events such as the Montreux jazz festival, but the CFF railway company had planned 400 “special trains” for spectators, ready to wait in the event of extension.

The atmosphere was felt, leaving to fraternize in the same winning and defeated trains. But also the carbon footprint of the tournament, since “86% of ticket holders joined the stadiums” by public transport, walking or cycling, says UEFA.

The experience promises to be radically different for the 2027 World Cup: on the “100% accessible train” file presented by Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, FIFA preferred Brazil and its long distances involving the plane.