Previous European championships
In 1957 in West Berlin, a European Championship was staged by the International Ladies Football Association. [1] [2] Four teams, representing West Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and the eventual winners, England, played the tournament at the Poststadion, [1] [2] at a time when women's football teams were officially forbidden by the German Football Association, a ban that was widely defied. [3] [4]
The Italian Women's Football Federation FICF, which eventually merged into the Italian Football Federation, organised a European tournament in Italy in 1969 for women's national teams, a tournament won by the home team, Italy, who beat Denmark 3–1 in the final. The two nations were also the finalists of the 1970 Women's World Cup in Italy.
Italy hosted another European women's tournament a decade later, the 1979 European Competition for Women's Football – won by Denmark. [6]
UEFA displayed little enthusiasm for women's football and were particularly hostile to Italy's independent women's football federation. Sue Lopez, a member of England's squad, contended that a lack of female representation in UEFA was a contributory factor: [7]
In 1971, UEFA had set up a committee for women's football, composed exclusively of male representatives, and by the time this committee folded in 1978 they had failed to organise any international competitions. [7]
UEFA organised championships
At a conference on 19 February 1980 UEFA resolved to launch its own competition for women's national teams. [8] The meeting minutes had registered the 1979 competition as a "cause for concern". [9] Qualification for the first UEFA-run international tournament began in 1982, with the inaugural 1984 competition being won by Sweden. Norway won the second competition in 1987. A period of German domination then followed, with Germany winning 8 of the 9 competitions from 1989 to 2013, interrupted only by Norway in 1993. The Netherlands won in 2017 followed by England winning the most recent two editions of the competition in 2022 and 2025.
From 1984 to 1995, the tournament was initially played as a four-team event. The 1997 edition was the first that was played with eight teams, followed by the 2001 and 2005 editions. The third expansion happened between 2009 and 2013 when 12 teams participated. From 2017 onwards 16 teams compete for the championship. [10]
The first three tournaments of the UEFA competition in the 1980s had the name "European Competition for Representative Women's Teams". With UEFA's increasing acceptance of women's football, this competition was given European Championship status by UEFA around 1990. [11] Only the 1991 and 1995 editions have been used as European qualifiers for a FIFA Women's World Cup; starting in 1999, women's national teams adopted the separate World Cup qualifying competition and group system used in men's qualifiers.
England (2nd title)
Germany (8 titles)
UEFA Women's Euro 2025 
