UEFA Women’s EURO 2025: A guide to Group A - fixtures, team history and players to watch

UEFA Women’s EURO 2025: Group A

Team Preview: Finland

FIFA World Ranking: 29

Best EUROs finish: Semi-finals (2005)

Captain: Linda Sällström

Head coach: Marko Saloranta

It has been 20 years since Finland’s best-ever performance at a European Championships, reaching the last four before being knocked out by eventual champions Germany. It was a real statement of intent from the Finnish, going toe to toe with Europe’s best in what was their competition debut. Four years later they hoped to get over that last hurdle, particularly as the hosts in 2009, but faltered in the quarter-finals.

Since then, it has been quite the mixed bag for them. They found themselves grouped in 2013; failing to qualify in 2017. Finland made their return to the European stage in ’22, but once again found themselves unable to advance to the knockouts, finishing with three defeats from three, scoring just once.

2025 could present the perfect opportunity to finally touch knockout football once more, drawn into perhaps the most open group in recent years. With the usual giants – England, Spain, Germany, France, etc. – all facing one another, Group A has four sides who are not necessarily regarded favourites by any stretch. It is anyone’s group to win. Losing just twice in the last year, winning six and drawing three, Finland’s form may well prove that they are ready to seize this opportunity with both hands.

Key player: Linda Sällström

Who better to lead Finland out for the 14th edition of the Women’s EUROs than their most capped player and leading goalscorer Linda Sällström. The 36-year-old is a cornerstone of Finnish football, a mainstay up top and a leader both on and off the field. With 62 goals in 150 appearances, Sällström will be called upon to lead the line for her national team as she has done since 2007, when making her debut.

Not only is she a force on the pitch, but she is equally a tale of resilience off it. The striker, who plays her club football in Sweden, has had to come back from not one, not two, but three ACL injuries. It is one of the most brutal setbacks a player can sustain, so to bounce back thrice shows real mental fortitude. In what could be one of, if not the, last major tournament of her international career, Sällström will surely want to make it one to remember – and given the favourable group draw, this could very well be the year to try and emulate the success of the late 2000s.

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