Holders England kick off their Euro 2025 campaign against France in a heavyweight Group D clash in Zurich this evening. <\/p>\n
In one of the matches of the whole group stage, the Lionesses begin their quest to retain European Championship title against a dangerous Les Bleues side packed with attacking talent. <\/p>\n
And with the Netherlands and Wales completing the \u201cgroup of death\u201d, the pressure will be on both England and France from the start as they look to safely progress to the quarter-finals. <\/p>\n
Sarina Wiegman\u2019s side won the Euros three years ago before reaching the World Cup final in 2023, and have set themselves the challenge of defending their European crown this month. <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s everything you need to know ahead of the Group D opener. <\/p>\n
When is England v France? <\/p>\n
The match takes place on Saturday 5 July, with kick-off at 8pm BST (UK time) in Zurich. <\/p>\n
What TV channel is it on? <\/p>\n
England v France will be shown on ITV 1 and ITV X, with coverage getting underway from 7pm. <\/p>\n
What is the England team news? <\/p>\n
Lauren James made her return from injury in England\u2019s 7-0 win over Jamaica on Sunday, playing the final half hour in the send-off friendly. Sarina Wiegman said the Chelsea star \u201ccan play more than that\u201d against France. <\/p>\n
\u201cI’m not going to give you the line-up, but she played 30 minutes last week, so she can play more than that, so I think that will say enough,\u201d Wiegman said, perhaps suggesting that James will start England\u2019s opener in place of Ella Toone. <\/p>\n
Wiegman\u2019s other selection decisions comes at left back but Jess Carter impressed in the win over Jamaica, so may have done enough to keep her place. <\/p>\n
Euros winners Mary Earps and Fran Kirby announced their retirements before the Euros, while vice-captain Millie Bright made herself unavailable for selection and subsequently underwent knee surgery, so is missing from the tournament. <\/p>\n
Possible England XI: Hampton; Bronze, Williamson, Greenwood, Carter; Walsh, Stanway; Mead, James, Hemp; Russo<\/p>\n
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What is the France team news? <\/p>\n
France head coach Laurent Bonadei made the bold call of dropping captain Wendie Renard, all-time top goalscorer Eugenie Le Sommer and Kenza Dali from his Euros squad, explaining: \u201cAs Einstein said: \u2018Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.\u2019 I want different results for this team so I have gone with a different selection.\u201d<\/p>\n
The player named as captain in place in Renard, centre-back Griedge Mbock, has also been ruled out due to injury. Still, France still have a very talented team, especially in forwards Kadidiatou Diani and Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Chelsea\u2019s Sandy Baltimore. <\/p>\n
Possible France XI: Peyraud-Magnin; De Almeida, Lakrar, Sombath, Bacha; Geyoro, Toletti, Karchaoui; Diani, Katoto, Baltimore<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Holders England kick off their Euro 2025 campaign against France in a heavyweight Group D clash in Zurich this evening. In one of the matches of the whole group stage, the Lionesses begin their quest to retain European Championship title against a dangerous Les Bleues side packed with attacking talent. And with the Netherlands and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n