ST. GALLEN, Switzerland: Germany made a winning start to their Women’s Euro 2025 campaign with Friday’s 2-0 win over Poland which moved the eight-time continental champions top of Group C.

Christian Wueck’s side lead Sweden, 1-0 winners in a Scandinavian derby with Denmark, on goal difference after coming through a hard-fought group opener in St. Gallen thanks to goals in the second half from Jule Brand and Lea Schueller.

Germany are one of three big contenders for overall victory in Switzerland alongside world champions Spain and holders England.

But the “Frauenteam” were far from their best for most of the match, with Wueck frequently bellowing at his charges to up their game.

And they lost captain Giulia Gwinn to what looked like a knee injury before half-time following a nasty fall in a challenge with Ewa Pajor.

“She’s injured her knee and will undergo an MRI tomorrow, at which point we’ll know what’s happened,” said Wueck.

“It was a tough, hard-fought victory. Poland made it very, very difficult for us with their style of play... We’re happy with the result and we know that we can do better.”

Germany had won all six previous encounters with Poland but the game was even until Brand cut inside and unleashed an unstoppable shot six minutes after half-time.

And Brand was on hand in the 66th minute with a perfect cross for Bayern Munich striker Schueller, who made sure of the points with a simple header.

Germany have now won six matches on the bounce, scoring 26 goals in that run, but looked some way below the standard shown by tournament favorites Spain on Thursday, with England facing France on Saturday.

Poland acquitted themselves admirably in their European Championship debut but Barcelona’s Pajor, who has scored 51 goals for club and country this season, was uncharacteristically wasteful with her finishing.

Pajor walloped a great chance at Germany goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger just before Schueller doubled Germany’s lead and did the same with a close-range header with nine minutes remaining.

Filippa Angeldahl scored Sweden’s winner in the 55th minute in Geneva after exchanging passes with Kosovare Asllani and firing into the far corner.

Sweden should have doubled their lead 10 minutes later when Madelen Janogy headed Hanna Lundkvist’s pinpoint cross narrowly wide, while moments before Stina Blackstenius was denied by Frederikke Thogersen’s brilliant goalline clearance.

“It was an enormous sense of joy and relief. There are so many nerves when you start a tournament that it was a wonderful feeling to score that goal,” Angeldahl told reporters.

Peter Gerhardsson’s team are now unbeaten in 13 games after a second straight win over the Danes, with Sweden running out emphatic 6-1 winners in the Nations League last month.

Sweden kept a tight handle on Denmark’s skipper Pernille Harder, although she did smash an effort off the crossbar with nine minutes remaining.

The Bayern Munich forward was also involved when VAR decided not to award a penalty to Denmark in the opening minutes for a potential handball by Madelen Janogy, who was marking Parder.

SION, Switzerland: On the terrace of a restaurant in the Swiss city of Sion sits a group of pioneers of women’s football in Switzerland who have seen the beautiful game change beyond recognition.

For ⁠72-year-old Madeleine Boll, seeing the city in the French-speaking part of Switzerland hosting three games in the Women’s European Championship, which is being staged across the country, is a proud moment.

The mascot of the tournament, a Saint Bernard puppy, bears her name, Maddli, in recognition of her role in advancing women’s football in Switzerland.

At 12 years old in 1965, Boll became the first woman in Switzerland to obtain a license to play football, with FC Sion’s boys’ youth team. But just months later it was taken away from her after the club said it had made an error.

“I was the happiest little girl. But the day they took away my license, I was the unhappiest because I didn’t understand why I was forbidden to play,” Boll told Reuters.

However, it marked the first in a series of landmark moments that enabled women’s inclusion in Swiss football.

By 1970 the first Swiss Women’s Football League was created, with Boll’s father, Jean Boll, its president. Madeleine later played for FC Sion, one of the earliest women’s football clubs in Switzerland.

“It’s a beautiful gift because it’s here that the beginnings of Swiss women’s football took root,” she said.

KEY MOMENT
A lot has changed since Boll and her generation played. There are now 40,000 registered women players and 134 female referees in Switzerland, according to the Swiss FA.

“It was different. We didn’t have jerseys, we didn’t have means to travel ... We had to make people understand that we are capable of playing,” said 72-year-old Rosemarie Siggen, from Sion who started playing football toward the end of the 1960s.

For Siggen and Boll, who were joined by four other footballing pioneers in the women’s game in Sion, this year’s tournament is a key moment to make strides in supporting women’s football.

“The Euros will be a catalyst,” Boll told Reuters, pointing to it as an opportunity for greater investment in the women’s game.

The Swiss hosts are hoping the legacy of the tournament — being played across eight cities over the next month — will bolster female football in the country as Euro 2022 did for champions England. It is aiming to double the number of female players by 2027, according to the Swiss FA.

“It’s a bit difficult for these young girls. They need help. I think there should be stronger support, a real investment ... we want to see them progress because they can bring many beautiful things,” said Siggen.

Boll hopes that the Switzerland side, who lost their first match of the tournament 2-1 to Norway, can continue to make strides with more financial support.

“If we want to have a good Swiss team ... it will be important that girls become professional because it is difficult ... to achieve results while having a job or being a student,” Boll said.

UEFA, the governing body for European soccer, announced a record 600,000 tickets have been sold for the tournament. Basel will host the final on July 27 at St. Jakob-Park, the largest football stadium in Switzerland.