Taking their place on the hallowed turf of Wembley Stadium, the Lionesses prepared to begin the defence of their UEFA Women’s EURO title. Sarina Wiegman repaid the performance of the XI that overcame Italy in February’s friendly by only making a solitary change as Lauren James replaced Chloe Kelly in the starting line up.

After earning many plaudits for her performances throughout the current Barclays Women’s Super League campaign with Tottenham Hotspur, Grace Clinton retained her place in a three-pronged midfield alongside Keira Walsh and Georgia Stanway. 

Sweden travelled to the English capital after making wholesale changes to the side that defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 10-0 (on aggregate) in their UEFA Nations League relegation play-off final – with four of the Blågult’s starting team sheet, Filippa Angeldahl, Julia Zigiotti Olme, Stina Blackstenius and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, all plying their trade in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

ENG: Earps; Bronze, Wubben-Moy, Greenwood, Charles; Stanway, Clinton, Walsh; Russo, James, Hemp 

SWE: Falk; Lundkvist, Sembrant, Eriksson, Andersson; Angeldahl, Asllani, Olme; Rolfö, Blackstenius, Rhytting Kaneryd

Encountering each other for the first time since the Lionesses’ 4-0 victory in this very competition in July of 2022, the hosts nearly suffered an early injury scare as Alessia Russo – who was on the scoresheet in that aforementioned game – underwent intensive treatment before welcomingly returning to the applause of a bumper crowd of 60,000+ inside of Wembley. 

Fridolina Rolfö fired Sweden’s first effort of the game only inches wide of the post but England would go on to break the deadlock in the 24th minute, as a now injury-free Russo again haunted Peter Gerhardsson’s side as she sent a Superman-esque diving header from the back post past Jennifer Falk – courtesy of Lauren James’ exquisitely-chipped cross. The remainder of the first half would then revolve around a period of inactivity in front of goal as referee Ivana Projkovska blew the whistle for half-time, with Sarina Wiegman understandably the happier of the two managers. 

Still with no shots on target at Wembley – with the match now surpassing the hour-mark in the English capital – Gerhardsson called upon Amanda Nildén and Kafaji Rosa from the dugout, with the latter making an immediate impact. Making a big impression with BK Häcken in this season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League campaign, Rosa produced a delicious delivery to the back stick that allowed Rolfö to head home the equaliser through the legs of a stunned Mary Earps between the goalposts.

Fresh off her extra-time winner for Arsenal in last weekend’s FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup final victory over Chelsea, Stina Blackstenius should have turned the match on its head as her turned run left Lotte Wubben-Moy in the dust to find herself in a one-on-one encounter with Earps. However, the ever-so-reliable striker’s expertise in front of goal uncharacteristically let her down, as she fired her effort past Earps to the wrong side of the post. 

With both sides pushing for all three points in their opening match of EURO 2025 qualification, Falk instinctively raced off her goal line to deny Lauren Hemp, with the rebound turned behind by a covering defender for a corner that led to nothing for the hosts. Ultimately, the Manchester City striker’s chance turned out to be the final opportunity of the game, as both nations were forced to settle for a point.

The Lionesses will now face the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday, while Sweden will face off against France on the same day.