Switzerland’s players celebrate after winning the match 2-0 against Iceland at the end of the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 Group A football match between Switzerland and Iceland at the Wankdorf stadium in Bern, on July 6, 2025. (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP)
Norway are the first team to reach the Women’s Euro 2025
quarter-finals after beating Finland 2-1 on Sunday and Switzerland’s 2-0 win
over eliminated Iceland.
Caroline Graham Hansen snatched the three points in Sion
with a mishit cross six minutes before the end to give Norway a perfect six
points from their two Group A fixtures.
And hosts Switzerland beating Iceland ensured that Gemma
Grainger’s Norway have won the group with a match to spare, setting up a
last-eight clash with the the team that finishes second in Group B.
“We need to get better at some things, but the best
thing is that we will keep getting better. If you can get better while winning
games, that’s the ideal formula,” said Grainger.
Norway looked set to dominate when Eva Nystrom diverted
Hansen’s low cross into her own net, and they were unlucky not be two ahead
midway through the first half after striking the woodwork twice in the space of
a minute.
First, Ingrid Engen nodded Vilde Boe Risa’s probing cross
onto the post in the 24th minute. Then, Finland goalkeeper Anna Koivunen tipped
an inswinging corner onto the upright.
Koivunen pulled off two more superb stops four minutes
later, tipping away Hansen’s low drive before charging out to deny Ada
Hegerberg just as it looked like the former Ballon d’Or winner was certain to
net from close range.
Koivunen’s goalkeeping heroics were rewarded in the 32nd
minute when Oona Sevenius kept her head on the edge of the penalty box to guide
home a superb leveller.
Finland suddenly looked far more likely to take the points,
with Eveliina Summanen denied a brilliant goal when Norway goalkeeper Cecilie
Fiskerstrand tipped a shot onto the post.
Hansen seemed to have missed her chance to win the match for
Norway in the 82nd minute when she blasted over from point-blank range.
She made up moments later when she skipped past two Finnish
defenders, burst into the box, evaded two more players and lofted the ball in
off the post.
The Swiss sit second, three points behind Norway, after
Geraldine Reuteler and Alayah Pilgrim delighted a passionate home crowd at the
Wankdorf Stadium.
Pia Sundhage’s team need to avoid defeat against Finland on
Thursday to reach the knockout stage of the Euros for first time.
“I’m very proud of the team because we changed at
half-time, in the second half we changed the system a little bit and I think
they did great,” Sundhage told Swiss broadcaster RSI.
Eintracht Frankfurt forward Reuteler opened the scoring with
a smart finish at the end of a fine passing move in the 76th minute, finally
breaking the deadlock of a contest in which both teams struck the woodwork.
And in the final minute Pilgrim put Switzerland in second
place above Finland on goal difference with a wildly deflected effort from just
outside the area.
Defeat for Iceland left them on zero points and without any
chance of reaching the next round as they have an inferior head-to-head record
with both the Swiss and Finland ahead of their final fixture with Norway.