Europe seeks the latest footballing heroines

• Germany aiming for seventh European title
• Five teams to make their continental debut
• Tournament stretched from 12 to 16 teams

The wait is finally over! The UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 kicks-off in a Netherlands on Sunday, as a hosts take on Norway. This year, for a first time, 16 teams will conflict it out for European excellence and a possibility to move Germany’s epoch of prevalence to an end.

The contest will be hold opposite 7 venues from 16 Jul to 6 August. In a arise of a quick swell done by a women’s diversion in new years and a augmenting abyss of foe via a sport, fans and players comparison can demeanour brazen to an fascinating and high-quality tournament. FIFA.com takes a demeanour during what a subsequent few weeks have in store.

Group A: Netherlands (hosts), Norway, Denmark, Belgium
Group B: Germany (defending champions), Sweden, Italy, Russia
Group C: France, Iceland, Austria, Switzerland
Group D: England, Scotland, Spain, Portugal

The format
The foe starts with a normal organisation theatre until 27 July, with any organisation confronting each other organisation in their pool. The organisation winners and runners-up will swell to a knockout stages, starting with a quarter-finals and semi-finals. The final will be played on 6 Aug to find out who can obey Germany’s 2013 delight and lapse home as champions.

What we need to know
1 UEFA hold a initial European contest for women’s teams in a early 1980s, with a foe holding place each dual years until 1997. The eventuality was given European Championship standing between a 1989 and 1991 tournaments. Eight teams took partial in 1997, a final year in that a eventuality was hold each dual years. Finland hosted a tenth UEFA Women’s European Championship in 2009, when 12 sides competed for a prize for a initial time. Eight years later, a margin of participants was stretched once more, with 16 teams energetically watchful to start their campaigns during a Women’s EURO 2017.

2 It is mostly pronounced that life is all about second chances – though infrequently we get a few some-more opportunities to set a record straight. Germany and Sweden have met on 26 prior occasions, including dual European finals. In 1995, a Germans triumphed 3-2 over a Sweden side that enclosed stream manager Pia Sundhage, before repeating a attainment with a 1-0 extra-time win in 2001. The organisation theatre will play horde to a latest assembly between these dual heavyweights after they met in a final of final year’s Women’s Olympic Football Tournament.

3 While Austria and Switzerland join Belgium, Scotland and Portugal as European debutants during this year’s tournament, Austria manager Dominik Thalhammer and Switzerland’s Martina Voss-Tecklenburg can call on a horde of gifted names to take on this new challenge. Fourteen of a 23 Austrian players travelling to a Netherlands manipulate their trade in Germany, including star striker Nina Burger. In a Swiss ranks, Ramona Bachmann, Lara Dickenmann, Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic and Vanessa Burki feature for some of Europe’s biggest clubs.

Players to watch
Vivianne Miedema (NED): Many players can tell a story or dual about a vigour confronting a hosts during a vital general tournament. As a EUROs get underway in a Netherlands, many internal hopes will be pinned on Vivianne Miedema, who is quick apropos one of a country’s pivotal performers. She done her entrance for a inhabitant organisation during a proposal age of 17 and scored her initial general hat-trick in her second compare – notwithstanding usually stepping onto a representation opposite Portugal as a 75th-minute substitute. Miedema netted 16 goals in subordinate for a FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™, creation her a competition’s heading goalscorer. She scored all 3 of a Netherlands’ goals in a dual wilful play-off matches opposite Italy to glow a Dutch to their first-ever Women’s World Cup dual years ago.

Harpa Thorsteinsdottir (ISL): Iceland’s preparations for these EUROs have been distant from ideal. With Margret Lara Vidarsdottir, her sister Elisa, and Dora Maria Larusdottir all sidelined by injury, manager Freyr Alexandersson will have to cope though these 3 pivotal players – though he has an ace adult his sleeve in a form of Harpa Thorsteinsdottir. Iceland’s Women’s Footballer of a Year in 2014 found a aim 10 times in subordinate for a Netherlands 2017, creation her an instrumental partial of her country’s success.

Sakina Karchaoui (FRA): At only 21 years of age, Sakina Karchaoui has already determined herself as a permanent member of a France patrol and found her niche on a left wing. She done her comparison general entrance in Apr 2016 and featured during that year’s Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in Rio. Less than 3 months later, Karchaoui played during a FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Papua New Guinea 2016, where she and her team-mates were eventually beaten in a final.

Will there be a new name on a during #WEURO2017?

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— UEFA Women’s EURO (@UEFAWomensEURO) July 11, 2017

Article source: http://www.fifa.com/development/news/y=2017/m=7/news=europe-seeks-its-latest-footballing-heroines-2901236.html