Defending Champions Suffer Shock Defeat to France in Tournament Opener

England’s women’s national team suffered a disappointing 2-1 defeat to France in their Euro 2025 opener, becoming the first defending champions to lose their first match of the tournament at a women’s Euros.

The loss has left the team’s manager, Sarina Wiegman, facing one of the most important analysis sessions of her career, according to former Lionesses midfielder Fran Kirby.

Kirby, who retired from international football a month ago after being told by Wiegman that she would not make the squad, described the team’s performance as “very different” to the Lionesses team she was used to playing in and watching.

She criticized the team’s defensive play, saying they looked “shaky and disjointed” and made too many “sloppy passes.” Kirby emphasized the need for the team to make a vast improvement in order to progress from Group D, which includes Wales and the Netherlands.

“It was really tough to watch,” Kirby said in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live. “We always do analysis after the game, but I think this analysis probably has to be one of the most important ones of Sarina’s managerial career.”

Kirby also praised Captain Leah Williamson’s honesty after the match, saying she “liked the way she spoke out” about the team’s errors. Williamson had described the team’s defensive play as “some cheap sort of emotional defending,” which Kirby said was a sign of the team’s emotional state after the loss.

However, Kirby also emphasized that Williamson’s comments were not just about criticizing the team, but also about holding herself and her teammates accountable for their performance.

“I think Leah’s comments were really honest and I think that’s what we need to hear right now,” Kirby said. “We need to hear the truth and we need to be honest with ourselves about what went wrong. I think that’s what Sarina will be looking for in the analysis session today.”

England face the Netherlands on Wednesday, a match that Wiegman will attempt to win having led the Netherlands to European success in 2017.

The team will need to make significant improvements in order to progress from Group D, and Kirby’s comments suggest that they will be taking a hard look at their performance and making changes in order to achieve that goal.

Despite the defeat, there is no shortage of confidence in the England ranks. Defender Esme Morgan said that the team looks forward to the challenge of winning the rest of their group stage matches. “We always tend to come out when things are against us,” she said. “I feel like we produce our best. We’d always kind of been built that way as a nation.”