Above: England celebrate with the fans after winning Euro 25 Photo: @Lionesses on X
By Gethin Thurlow (3/8/25)
I’ve been lucky enough to do a lot of amazing things in my life, but I’m not sure much will top seeing England win the Euros in Switzerland. I am truly grateful for what was ultimately a day that I will never forget.
The day for us started in one of the two fanzones of Basel – the ‘England fan’ designated one. Scattered among the nervous English fans were the red shirts of Switzerland, as well as some German and Dutch fans who’d anticipated reaching this stage. The unity displayed here is something special, that only tournament football can bring about.
Not only were those fans willing to unapologetically cheer for another nation, but England fans were also able to put aside any club rivalries. Arsenal fans cheered on Hannah Hampton and Lucy Bronze as much as their blue counterparts, while Chelsea fans roared Chloe Kelly’s introduction to the pitch with the same vigour as Leah Williamson’s countless headed clearances.
These fans can acknowledge the unique circumstances of a final. Whether they have a favourite player or club, if they doubted Sarina Wiegman at one moment, if they don’t trust one of the starting 11, it is time to put all that aside. Everything depends on this one match, the trophy being won or not. For one game and one game only, support for this team, squad and country was unconditional. This is something I really felt throughout the day and was another reason why it was like no other football match experience.
The fan walk was its own event, and an unforgettable one at that. As culturally iconic as you can get, it was a black cab that headed up the walk, giving the streets of Basel a small taste of a London morning. The equally iconic band followed, having been as brilliant as the players throughout the Euros. The new ‘Sarina’ chant was just exceptional, and they’d spent every single matchday playing the same few tunes over and over again, right through extra time and penalties.
Over the 4 kilometre walk to the stadium, through blazing sunshine, some light drizzle and 5 minutes of the rain absolutely thrashing down spirits were kept high by the band, and our overall excitement. Who cares about some rain when you’re about to watch the final of the Euros?
Something that made the fan walk so spectacular were the interactions with people at the side. Manoeuvring through the tight cobbled streets of Basel, there were apartments and balconies everywhere you looked, and so many of them popped their head out to sneak out an English or Spanish flag – provoking either cheers or boos (always in good nature) or just riling up the crowd. One such moment had us singing “we love you Switzerland, we do” and we truly did.
In the ground the vibes were slightly different. It was becoming more real, the nerves and tension were starting to creep in. Luckily the organisers were there to distract us, with two inflated ‘clappers’ for each seat and a tutorial video to follow, as the fans would be participating in the closing ceremony ourselves.
Suddenly, the national anthems were sung, the countdown to kickoff started and the whistle blew, we were off. The first 40 minutes weren’t great, lets be honest. However the fans never quietened down or gave up, and when Chloe Kelly was brought on the noise was louder than ever. The lift this generated in the crowd was similar to the lift to England’s all round play gained from Kelly’s introduction to the pitch.
When Alessia Russo leaned back and her header nestled into the corner, the stadium was even more rocked, England were back in it. As Spain pushed on towards the end the atmosphere never wore off. Every block, tackle, clearance or save felt like a goal and screams of “Sarina” in tune with the band were constant, we really began to believe that England could hold on and get this victory.
Possibly the biggest moment of the day for the Lionesses’ fans was when referee Stephanie Frapport pointed right at us to signal the penalty shoot out would be taken at that end. The penalty shootout itself went exactly how they do – everything that goes your way is the greatest high ever and every one that goes against you is pure devastation. I wouldn’t even describe it as a roller coaster of emotions, it’s more of a washing machine where they just get thrown up, down and any direction every second.
Eventually though, Chloe Kelly stepped up, buried her penalty and England were champions. Cue the wild celebrations once again, but there was also a sense of relief this time, we had finally done it. There would be no more extra time or penalties, we hadn’t gone through every emotion on this earth just to make it through the quarter final this time, football had actually come home again.
The joy of those next few moments is hard to describe. The entire squad, and a few seconds later the staff all sprinted over to the fans as ‘Sweet Caroline’ began to play over the tannoy. As were we singing and dancing along it did start to sink in that England had won the Euros. After all the doubts, the inconsistent results, the tough group, the rise of our opponents and the retirements had made this seem impossible; here Leah Williamson was lifting the trophy.
It has been such an amazing experience to be at the Euros, and being with the England fans at each game has been fun. It is a slightly different atmosphere to home games in England but I like it, less people doesn’t have to mean less passion or support. In that winning moment and the hours after it felt like we were all on cloud nine, walking around Basel recognising each other and acknowledging that shared experience, knowing we had both just seen England bring it home.
Football has so much power and it showed all of that last Sunday. It might sound pathetic and obsessive to some people, but that was genuinely the best day of my life and I was really the happiest I’ve ever been in that moment seven days ago.
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