Jen Cooper worked as Fox Sports’ researcher for the 2025 Women’s Euro, as she did for the 2019 & 2023 Women’s World Cups, and the men’s 2018 and 2022 World Cups and 2024 Euro. She also served as statistician for NBC Sports for the 2020 & 2024 women’s Olympic soccer tournaments.
England won its second straight title with a penalty-kick shootout win over Spain after a 1-1 tie — the final and 31st game of a Euro 2025 that set an array of records.
We asked Cooper to review the highlights and key personalities of the 26-day Switzerland-hosted tournament.
SOCCER AMERICA: How has Euro 2025 compared to the other women’s big tournaments in terms of quality of play, entertainment, drama … ?
JEN COOPER: This Euro set multiple tournament records — total attendance, total group-stage attendance, biggest attendance for a knockout game not featuring the host country, most goals and more — and as you know saw some record-breaking TV viewership numbers in several countries. I was also impressed by UEFA’s pre-tournament numbers of tickets sold by country — more than 60,000 German fans bought tickets before the tournament as well as 5,000 Americans!
The quality of play rarely disappointed — England’s 6-1 defeat of Wales and Spain’s 6-2 win over Belgium were the only lopsided results, but those games were still entertaining. The two tournament debutants Poland and Wales held their own with distinct styles of play, and Poland earned their first win.
Four of the knockout games went to extra time (most for a single Euro) and three went to PKs (another tournament record). Underdogs like Italy and Switzerland held off more established teams (England and Spain) late into matches.
SA: Italy, after failing to get out of the 2023 World Cup group stage, reached the Euro semifinals for the first time since 1997, when it was still an eight-team tournament. Were you surprised by Italy’s success? To what do you attribute Italy’s rise?
JEN COOPER: Italy’s top domestic league (Serie A Femminile) only became fully professional three years ago, and this Euro reaped the benefits. All but one Italian player spent the 2024-25 club season in Serie A, which means the Azzurre players share a similar playing style and also instant familiarity when coming together for the national team.
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