Lionesses celebrate back-to-back Euro titles and show how far women’s game has come in England in three years

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LONDON — Another day, another moment for these Lionesses that would have been scarcely imaginable for their forebearers. The back-to-back champions of Europe had won their crown on foreign soil — the first England senior team ever to achieve such a feat — and so perhaps could have been forgiven for underestimating the scale of affection for them back home. They can be under no illusions now. Football had come home again and 65,000 were waiting on The Mall to greet it.

Fans had made their way from the furthest stretches of England, from Northumberland, Cornwall and everywhere in between at barely 36 hours’ notice, the sheer volume all the more remarkable given that prime minister Keir Starmer did not bequeath on the public the celebratory bank holiday he had so vocally campaigned for when England were lifting trophies on someone else’s watch. 

This was a team that captured the attention of millions. Their semifinal triumph over Italy had been the most watched programme on the nation’s second largest broadcaster. The final had 16 million viewers in the UK cheering them on, a third more than their triumph on home soil three years earlier. Now just a smattering of those who had cheered them on — still enough to fill almost every club ground in England — had come out to celebrate one of the country’s greatest footballing achievements.

Congregated at the bottom of Trafalgar Square in two open top red buses, the players had all the time they needed to process the depth of affection felt for them. It seemed to be an impossible task.

“I’ve been crying all the way down The Mall,” said captain Leah Williamson. “This is unbelievable, probably one of the best things we’ve been a part of.”

The huge crowd only grew further after the players had made the journey to a stage in front of the Queen Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace, thousands thronging along Pall Mall and Piccadilly as tourists that usually have the run of these parts in the summer looked on in baffled fashion. Perhaps they had been expecting a different sort of England fan.

Certainly this was nothing like the (occasionally inaccurate) stereotype of an England men’s fan. Paying tribute to the champions was a family affair, dotted along the route were young children with Williamson, Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo England shirts, a fair few Arsenal and Chelsea jerseys dotted around too. “I saw older people, younger people, people from every different walk of life,” said Niamh Charles. “They were just so happy to be there and it was so lovely to be able to share this with them. It is for them, so it was so special to see people’s faces.”

Most apparent of all was the cross of St. George, an often charged symbol of recent English history, wrapping the shoulders of fans old and young without a hint of the contention that seems to follow it everywhere else. Since Euro 2020, any England team has become gristle in the mills of the culture wars. Not this time. Debates about the merits of women’s football have largely been confined to the lunatic fringes of social media. Kelly’s winner against Germany three years ago was rocket fuel for the popularity of the women’s game, which packs out the Emirates Stadium, Stamford Bridge and Wembley. Meanwhile, at the grassroots level priority access to football pitches for women and girls is to be more than doubled, the government announced after hosting Wiegman’s side at Downing Street on Monday.

Still, there is more to this than just what the England team have done for the sport. This is a story of the bond between a team and those they represent. Since the summer of 2022 the English public have got to know Sarina Wiegman’s team far better and, well, they really, really like them.

Kelly swears on daytime TV because how else can you describe the experience but “so f—ing special”? Surely every one wants a friendship dynamic like Russo and Ella Toone? This team just seems like an awful lot of fun, a group that feels particularly representative of young England, as steeped in meme culture as they are the neuroses of football’s homeland, channeling Brenda from Bristol in triumph. “You’re joking, not another one?”

Over three weeks in Switzerland, England won a host of new admirers not just for the fact that they won, but the manner in which they did. Two goals down in the quarterfinal, they refused to concede defeat. When the waves of Spanish pressure bore down on them they held firm. A tournament that began in what seemed like disaster ended with a triumph the Lionesses never doubted.

Their triumph had been, as Williamson put it, “hard earned.” Now their supporters were determined to give them the adoration they deserved. Wiegman certainly didn’t seem to be complaining when Burna Boy took to the stage to seranade her and a 55-year-old former phys ed teacher busting shapes to For My Hand is surely destined for the national meme library.

The celebrations rolled on well after what was supposed to be closing time, but already England thoughts were turning to what’s next. “Thank you so much for being with us, staying with us,” said Williamson. “This is not done yet.” If you think these scenes were something special, imagine what it will be like if England return from Brazil two years hence with the biggest trophy of them all.

This news was originally published on this post .

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