As soon as the Olympic qualification has been achieved, the next challenge awaits the German footballers: In the European Championship qualification, the European runner-up will meet Austria, Iceland and Poland in Group A4.
This was the result of the draw on Tuesday at the headquarters of the European Football Union (UEFA) in Nyon. After a format change, the times are over when the qualifying games were almost a no-brainer with no sporting significance, as the division of the groups is based on the Nations League.
Nevertheless, the DFB women had, almost traditionally, great luck: in Group A3, for example, France, World Cup runners-up England, World Cup third-placed Sweden and Ireland meet. Horst Hrubesch has it with “his girls“Caught much better.
Group winners and group runners-up qualified directly
The group winners and runners-up from the A leagues will definitely be in Switzerland for the finals from July 2nd to 27th, 2025. The remaining seven places – Switzerland qualifies as hosts – will be played in two playoff rounds with two legs in October and November.
UEFA women’s football director Nadine Keßler promised this at the draw in Nyon “best attended and best organized” Tournament, which will be a challenge for Switzerland after the great success of the 2022 European Championship in England. The former world footballer wants to be in one “Summer full of emotions” encourage even more women and girls across Europe to play football. UEFA strongly promotes women’s football under Keßler’s leadership.
There is almost no summer break anymore
However, the new format is not without controversy, especially the scheduling associated with it. The six group games will all take place from April to July 2024. The double match days are already scheduled for April 5th and 9th, May 31st and June 4th and July 12th and 16th. The summer break for the national players is therefore extremely short.
It will be problematic for the three European teams that, like the DFB women, are competing at the Olympic Games (July 26th to August 11th). There are only a few days between the last qualifying match day and the start of the Summer Games. This is also why the new DFB sports director Nia Künzer has already announced that she will address topics such as scheduling and dismissal during her inaugural visits to the clubs.