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In the draw for the European Championship for women next summer in Switzerland, the Dutch national team is paired with title holder England, which is coached by Sarina Wiegman.
Wales and France were also added to group D of the Dutch and English in Lausanne, Switzerland.
National coach Andries Jonker speaks of “the toughest group”. “You can say that it is a challenge, it is. But it could also have been much easier. There is no top country in group A, we have three. But we accept it and know that we can beat anyone. “
As England coach, Wiegman could laugh at the fact that she was linked to the Netherlands, just like in the last edition of the Nations League. “As if the devil is playing with it,” said Wiegman, who led the Dutch team to the European title in 2017 and also did the same five years later with The Lionesses.
“I always hope that things will go very well for the Netherlands, but now we have to compete against each other and of course I want to win,” said 55-year-old Wiegman. “It is clear that we have a tough group. But that applies to every country in the group. If you want to win the tournament, you have to be able to beat the best countries and maintain that. It is also cool to play such matches. “
Wales first opponent
The Netherlands will play the first match on Saturday, July 5 in Lucerne against Wales, which is making its debut in an international final round. With 30th place in the FIFA rankings, Wales is the lowest ranked country in the group, far behind number four England.
The Netherlands (eleventh) is one place above France, the second opponent at the European Championship. At the previous European Championship, the Dutch team was eliminated by the French in the quarter-finals after extra time. England is the opponent in the final group match.
The top two countries from each group qualify for the quarter-finals. The numbers 1 and 2 of the group of the Netherlands will compete against the best countries of group C, including Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Poland.
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Based on performance in qualifying, the Dutch national team was placed in pot 3 for the draw, which is why there was already fear of a group with two top countries. The best countries, such as world champion Spain, had a place in pot 1. England, among others, was in pot 2.
Host country Switzerland was also in pot 1 and was paired with Iceland, Norway and Finland. In addition to group D, with the Netherlands, the Spain group is also promising on paper. The world champion will face Italy, Belgium and Portugal.
Play cities
Basel, Bern, Geneva, Zurich, St. Gallen, Lucerne, Sion and Thun are the host cities of the European Championship, which opens on Wednesday, July 2 with the matches between host country Switzerland and Norway and Iceland-Finland.
The final will be played on Sunday, July 27 in the St. Jakob Park in Basel, the largest football stadium in Switzerland with seating for more than 38,000 spectators.
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