The Swiss women’s team will know on Monday the opponents it will face during ‘its’ Euro next summer. The draw for the group stage takes place Monday evening in Lausanne (6 p.m.).
As hosts, Switzerland is one of the top seeds and is guaranteed to appear in Group A. It will obviously play the opening match on July 2 in Basel, at the Parc Saint-Jacques against an opponent that it will discover tomorrow at the SwissTech Convention Center at EPFL.
In any case, it will not be one of the three other nations in pot 1: Spain, Germany and France. The second tier includes Italy, Iceland, Denmark and reigning European champions England. The Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Belgium are in the third pot. Finland, Poland, Portugal and Wales are in pot 4.
As in the pre-Euro 2016 men’s editions, the first two teams in each group will qualify for the quarter-finals. The final is scheduled for Basel on July 27. Bern, Geneva, Zurich, St. Gallen, Lucerne, Sion and Thun are the other host cities.
With Shaqiri and Ian Wright
In addition to the delegations from the participating countries – for Switzerland the president of the ASF Dominique Blanc, the head of women’s football Marion Daube and the coach Pia Sundhage will be present – many personalities are expected in Lausanne on Monday, such as the former striker of Arsenal Ian Wright, who will co-host the event.
Xherdan Shaqiri, Lara Dickenmann, Leonardo Bonucci, Sami Khedira and Raphaël Varane are among the distinguished guests. In addition to the draw, the evening should see the mascot Maddli make an appearance. The official tournament ball will also be revealed.
/ATS
