Points shared between England and Sweden in opening EURO qualifier at Wembley | OneFootball

Reigning European champions England battled out a 1-1 draw with Sweden in their opening qualifying match for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 at Wembley this evening.

The Lionesses began their quest to retain their title with a difficult fixture against the Swedes. Alessia Russo’s goal gave England a first half lead but they were pegged back following Fridolina Rolfö’s equaliser in the second period.

The opening stages of the match were end-to-end with spells of possession being enjoyed by both teams. There were some half-chances created by both sides but nothing solid enough to hit the back of the net.

Tension built in the 20th minute as Rolfö registered the first clear-cut chance on goal for Sweden, her strike from the left going agonisingly wide of the far post.

Just moments later, Wembley erupted as Russo’s perfectly-positioned diving header went sailing into the back of the net to open the scoring. Lauren James provided a fantastic delivery into the box to set her up.

Sweden then began to fight for their leveller. An onslaught of chances kept England keeper Mary Earps busy between the sticks but the visitors were unable to find a way through in the remainder of the first half.

In the second half, Sweden increased their attacking intent as they tried to break England down and get themselves back into the game.

It took them until the 64th minute to find their equaliser, a goal which came from close range. A delivery into the box flew over the head of Lucy Bronze before Rolfô was able to direct the ball into the back of the net.

England wanted to get off to a winning start in their qualification group and they seemed to find extra energy in the dying minutes. A shot from Lauren Hemp was cleared off the line by Magdalena Eriksson before Beth Mead’s strike was pushed away strongly by Swedish keeper Jennifer Falk.

In the end, it wasn’t to be for either team with both picking up their first point of their respective qualifying campaigns.

England travel to Dublin to face the Republic of Ireland in their next qualifier while Sweden host France in Gothenburg. Both of those matches take place on Tuesday.