Off-pitch matters are taking centre stage once again for Les Bleues, who are still trying to win a major tournament for the first time
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Secure your Women's Euro 2025 tickets for this summer's international tournamentLocation: SwitzerlandStadiums: Various, including St. Jakob Park, Stadion Wankdorf, Stade de Genève and moreDate: July 2 – 27Final: July 27, St. Jakob Park
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Women's Euro Tickets
Secure your Women's Euro 2025 tickets for this summer's international tournamentLocation: SwitzerlandStadiums: Various, including St. Jakob Park, Stadion Wankdorf, Stade de Genève and moreDate: July 2 – 27Final: July 27, St. Jakob Park
From
€149
Buy nowRead MoreAccommodation
Where to stay
Book hotels, apartments and accommodation across Switzerland for the Women's EurosSearch for places to stay near the stadiums, across Zurich, Basel, Bern, Geneva and moreLook for accommodation based on your dates, number of bedrooms, and budget on Booking.com
From
€49
Book nowRead MoreKits
Shop your kit
New kits from adidas, Nike and Puma have been released for the Women's Euro tournamentGrab your favourite team's kit to support throughout the gamesSearch for your team, including Italy, England, Germany and moreAvailable in sizes XS – XXL
From
€50
Buy nowRead MoreTickets
Women's Euro Tickets
Secure your Women's Euro 2025 tickets for this summer's international tournamentLocation: SwitzerlandStadiums: Various, including St. Jakob Park, Stadion Wankdorf, Stade de Genève and moreDate: July 2 – 27Final: July 27, St. Jakob Park
From
€149
Buy nowRead MoreAccommodation
Where to stay
Book hotels, apartments and accommodation across Switzerland for the Women's EurosSearch for places to stay near the stadiums, across Zurich, Basel, Bern, Geneva and moreLook for accommodation based on your dates, number of bedrooms, and budget on Booking.com
From
€49
Book nowRead MoreKits
Shop your kit
New kits from adidas, Nike and Puma have been released for the Women's Euro tournamentGrab your favourite team's kit to support throughout the gamesSearch for your team, including Italy, England, Germany and moreAvailable in sizes XS – XXL
From
€50
Buy nowRead More
France is one of the most historic and prolific football nations in the world. In the women's game, Lyon, its dominant domestic force, have won eight Champions League titles in the last 15 years, including five in a row between 2016 and 2020, with three more narrow final defeats coming in that same time period. Yet, despite French players consistently being at the very forefront of OL's achievements, it has never translated into success for the national team.
Les Bleues are notoriously a 'nearly' side. After finishing fourth at the 2011 Women's World Cup, France have never made it beyond the quarter-finals – despite hosting the 2019 tournament – and only once have they progressed to the semi-finals of a European Championship. At the Olympic Games, its a similar story, with a fourth-placed finish in 2012 followed up by quarter-final exits in 2016 and 2024, the latter of which was again on home soil.
As Euro 2025 begins, there are signs that their fortunes could change. Under new head coach Laurent Bonadei, Les Bleues are in flying form, having won all eight of their fixtures this year, and are certainly a serious contender for the title. But as they prepare to compete in the 'group of death' with England, the Netherlands and Wales, there are also suggestions that this could actually just be another underwhelming campaign characterised by chaos.
Getty ImagesConstant controversy
In recent years, it seems that France just cannot enter a major tournament quietly and without off-pitch fuss. For a long time, that drama often stemmed from head coach Corinne Diacre, a polarising figure who had her fair share of fall-outs with key players. Diacre took the post after the team's disappointing quarter-final exit at Euro 2017 and made her mark in her first tournament in charge, when she omitted Marie-Antoinette Katoto, who had just won the league's Golden Boot, from her squad for the 2019 Women's World Cup. At Euro 2022, it was Amandine Henry's turn to be left out, just days after her Player of the Match display in Lyon's win over Barcelona in the Champions League final.
Of course, a manager is entitled to make these decisions – but when the team repeatedly fails to get over the line in a major tournament, despite having the talent and potential to do so, such choices will be put under the microscope and scrutinised. Plus, it wasn't just player selection that made Diacre so controversial. Her management style was often criticised, with Wendie Renard, Lyon's eight-time Champions League winner, explaining in her autobiography that Diacre stripped her of the national team captaincy in 2017 because she believed the star defender had not "yet reached international level".
AdvertisementGetty ImagesQuarter-final curse
When Renard announced that she would not play at the 2023 Women's World Cup, the federation as a whole was suddenly being questioned, too. "I love France more than anything else, I am not perfect, far from it, but I can no longer support the current system which is far from the requirements of the highest level," she said in a statement that led to Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani, France's two star attackers, following suit. Those actions brought about change, with the federation dismissing Diacre from her role as head coach.
However, that was just four months before the World Cup was set to begin, leaving Les Bleues in a tricky spot going into the tournament. In came Herve Renard, well-known for his achievements across various men's national teams, having enjoyed success with Zambia, Ivory Coast, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. This, though, was his first job in the women's game.
It didn't start well,as France were beaten by Australia in the quarter-finals. It was the sixth time in their last seven major tournaments that Les Bleues had exited at that stage, the exception being their Euro 2022 semi-final loss to Germany. At their home Olympics a year later, they made it seven quarter-final exits in eight tournaments when they lost to Brazil, despite dominating that knockout clash and having so many chances to seal victory. It was a result that came amid so much talk of Renard's future, with him linked to both the Egypt and Nigeria jobs in the build-up to the Games, and he would leave his role after the tournament ended.
Getty ImagesNew dawn?
Under Bonadei, Renard's assistant and eventual successor, things felt different. He came into the job with minimal fuss and has delivered great performances and results since taking charge back in August. After experimenting and looking at as many players as possible in a quartet of friendlies at the end of 2024, which produced two wins and two defeats, Bonadei has overseen a run of eight successive wins in 2025, the first six of those in the Nations League, which Les Bleues will play the finals of later this year.
It has all sounded positive away from matches, too. Bonadei has brought in a coach that specialises in mental preparation, in order to address the "collective or individual blockage" that France's recent major tournament performances suggest exists, and he has tried his best not to change much about his interactions with the players from when he was an assistant.
"I am closer to them now because my management is based on authenticity," he explained in an interview with . "I told them, 'If you called me Laurent and addressed me informally when I was an assistant, above all, don't start addressing me formally and calling me coach, because I remain the same. The most important thing is respect. If I ask you something, you do it. If you ask me something, I try to meet your expectations'."
Getty ImagesChaos returns
It all seemed to be going impressively well, then… Until the bombshell news in April that Bonadei had dropped Renard, Eugenie Le Sommer and Kenza Dali from his squad and that they would not be going to Euro 2025, either. It was a huge shock; all three are hugely experienced players, Renard was the team's captain and Le Sommer the vice-captain. If the latter was a more understandable omission, having, aged 36, not been as key a player for Lyon as in previous seasons, and Dali a decision made on coach's preference, with the midfield an extremely competitive area of this team, Renard's absence in particular was stunning. Aged 34, she remains one of the very best centre-backs in the world.
A recent injury to Griedge Mbock Bathy, and concerns over whether she will be fit to start the tournament in the heart of France's defence, has increased the attention on that decision, while the fact Bonadei explained his reasons with an Albert Einstein quote only added to the absurdity of it all.
“These are tough choices,” he said. “They are difficult to make and difficult to announce to the players. It’s a decision that’s hard to hear, hard to understand and almost impossible for them to accept because they’re legendary players for the French team. I didn’t make this decision in the spur of the moment. You’d think, given the timing, that this is crazy – but it’s not. As Einstein said, ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result'. I want different results for this team so I have gone with a different selection.”
