ZURICH (AP) — Women’s soccer is continuing to grow and this time it is Switzerland which is highlighting that trend.
The Women’s European Championship is being played in the picturesque, Alpine country and it has become a festival of color, with fans dancing in the streets as well as the stands.
Records are tumbling on and off the pitch and are expected to continue to do so until the final on July 27 in Basel.
Here’s a look at some of the numbers after the 24 matches of the group stage:
8
How many teams remain: Spain, England, Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway and Italy.
89
The number of goals scored in the group stage, surpassing the previous record of 78 set in 2022. Only seven goals would have to be scored to better the all-time mark of 95, also set in 2022.
4
The number of red cards that were shown, beating the record of three brandished in the 2017 group stage. Germany’s Carlotta Wamser, Norway’s Marit Lund, Iceland’s Hildur Antonsdóttir and Portugal’s Ana Borges were the players dismissed.
38 years, 176 days
Jess Fishlock became the oldest goalscorer at the Women’s Euros when she netted Wales’ first-ever goal at the tournament in its 4-1 loss to France.
22
The number of group stage matches that were sold out.
461,582
Almost half a million people attended the group stage matches, breaking the mark of 357,993 set in England at Euro 2022. Among other records to fall were the highest attendance at a group stage match not involving the host nation (34,165 at Germany vs. Denmark) and the most fans at a Switzerland women’s national team match (34,063 against Norway in Basel).
1
Aleksander Ceferin, the president of European soccer’s governing body UEFA, has attended just one match — Switzerland’s opening game against Norway.
14,000
The number of supporters taking part in the lively fan walk — that was mainly a sea of red — to the Stadion Wankdorf ahead of Switzerland vs. Iceland. In total, around 60,000 people took part in the colorful fan walks before some of the matches in Switzerland.
4.5 million
The peak audience on British broadcaster ITV for England’s 6-1 win over Wales. That match and France’s against the Netherlands was directly competing with the Club World Cup final between an English and French team — Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain. Euro 2025 won by far in the United Kingdom, with around 1.2 million viewers tuning into the Club World Cup final on Channel 5. However, 4.8 million viewers in France watched PSG’s loss compared to the 2.3 million people who watched France beat the Netherlands.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Daniella Matar, The Associated Press
