England’s victorious Lionesses returned home today to witness the scenes of celebrations sweeping the country for themselves.
Last night’s nail-biting 3-1 penalty shoot-out win over Spain in Basel meant Sarina Wiegman’s side successfully defended the European Championship trophy they won three years ago – and, in the process, became the first senior England side, male or female, to win a major competition on foreign soil.
After a night of partying, the plane carrying the players and staff landed back at Southend Airport shortly after 3.30pm UK time to the cheers of hundreds of fans who had defied requests not to gather outside and instead lauded captain Leah Williamson and the rest of the squad with banners and chants of ‘it’s coming home’.
They were then whisked off to Downing Street for a reception with Deputy Prime Minister Angela Raynor, who was standing in for Sir Keir Starmer who was attending a meeting with US president Donald Trump in Scotland.
The buildings around No.10 were adorned with St George’s flags and bunting to celebrate the homecoming with the team then pictured enjoying drinks with Raynor in the gardens.
The party continues tomorrow with an open-top bus parade through central London that culminates with a ceremony at the Queen Victoria Memorial hosted by former England international Alex Scott.
England on a roll
The Lionesses’ success continues their remarkable run having won the Euros in 2022 and then reached the World Cup final 12 months later where they lost to Spain in Sydney.
The FA’s director of women’s football Sue Day told BBC News: “What an incredible performance. I think it’s easy to forgot how difficult it is to reach major finals. This team has become so consistent, so good at doing it, so good at putting performances together, major final after major final after major final.
“They’ve won this Euros after winning the last Euros and that’s the most phenomenal achievement. Never been done before by a team in this country so we are so proud of them, that amazing bunch of women and so proud of the team of men and women behind them too.
“It’s years and years of planning and preparation and investment. It’s the team behind the team, developing the players, putting the right pathways in place, identifying players young, developing coaches. It’s a whole system that sits behind these amazing players that brings them to that culmination point when they make a major final.”
Wiegman nets a hat-trick
It was the third time on the trot that Wiegman had led a team to Euros success after also achieving the feat with her native Netherlands in 2017.
Day added: “Sarina Wiegman has had the most amazing impact on the team and football in this country. The team has had the most amazing impact. We saw from the last Euros that participation in women and girls doubled to almost 2.5 million because of that Euros.
“What that’s telling girls is you can play football, there’s a place for you in football and we will see that again from this Euros and perhaps more powerfully so. It’s not just telling girls you can play football it’s telling them you can do anything you set your mind to and if that’s the legacy these Lionesses can leave, that’s pretty priceless.”
