ANP
NOS Voetbal•vandaag, 10:50
The question is whether the Orange Women will manage to avoid a ‘pool of death’ tonight. The Netherlands is in pot 3 in the draw for the 2025 European Championship. This is unfavorable, because on paper the Netherlands has to play against two better countries.
Pot 1 is filled with top countries, including world champion Spain. The previous European Championship winner England, with national coach Sarina Wiegman, is in pot 2.
Pot division draw EK 2025
Pot 1: Switzerland, Spain, Germany and France
Pot 2: Italy, Iceland, Denmark and England
Pot 3: The NetherlandsSweden, Norway and Belgium
Pot 4: Finland, Poland, Portugal and Wales
Sixteen countries participate in the European Championship, each pot consists of four teams. One country is taken from each pot and those teams together form a group. The Netherlands therefore draws a country from pot 1, pot 2 and pot 4. The strongest teams usually end up in the first two pots.
The best countries, such as world champion Spain, have a place in pot 1. Host country Switzerland is the most favorable option for the Dutch team from that pot. Pot 4 consists of countries that qualified through the play-offs this fall. From this, the Dutch team will draw a weaker country on paper: Finland, Portugal and debutants Wales and Poland.
Weak performance
The Dutch team is only in pot 3 due to the disappointing performance in the Nations League, in which the European Championship tickets could be earned. The Netherlands only managed to win two of the six matches in a group with Italy, Norway and Finland.
The team of national coach Andries Jonker barely qualified last summer after a draw against Norway (1-1). Italy became group winners and therefore received a place in pot 2.
Want to watch the draw live? This is possible at NOS
You can watch the draw for the qualifying rounds for the 2025 European Championship live on NOS. From 6 p.m. you can see it on NOS.nl, in the app and in the TV app NOS Live.
Jonker was not too concerned about the pot layout prior to the last qualifying match. “There is no guarantee that you will have a better draw if you win in a group. Just look at the men at the European Championships. There was a lot of panic because they finished third in the group phase, but in the end an excellent schedule unfolded because of that.”
The 2025 European Football Championship draw will take place at 6 p.m. in Lausanne, Switzerland. The European Championships are from 2 to 27 July. At the previous European Championship in 2022, the Netherlands was eliminated in the quarter-finals. At the time, the Dutch team was defending champion, after winning the European Championship in 2017.
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