England's Wiegman: 'Noise' Won't Affect Us In Women's Euro Title Defense

England will look to eliminate the "noise" when it kicks off its campaign to retain the UEFA Women's Euro crown.

The defending champions travel to Switzerland as one of the favorites at the 16-team tournament, despite recent upheaval in the squad, after winning last time and finishing runner-up to Spain in the 2023 World Cup.

Euro 2022 saw England triumph on home soil and secure the country's first senior title since the men’s team won the World Cup in 1966. And, in a soccer-mad country, that success has ratcheted up the hype around the Lionesses.

"My experience is before a major tournament there’s always noise," England coach Sarina Wiegman said. "So we expect noise until we go into the tournament, and it probably stays.

"The difference is that … now, just the attention and the visibility of the women’s game has increased so much. So it sounds like that’s more noise, but there’s just more talk, more journalists here … we just have to deal with it and move on and focus on football."

The 55-year-old Wiegman, who took charge of the Lionesses in September 2021, is bidding to make it a hat trick of European Championship titles, as she steered the Netherlands to the trophy in 2017.

However, a chaotic week leading up to her Euro 2025 squad announcement saw several key, experienced players pull out of selection for the tournament.

Star defender Millie Bright declared herself unavailable, saying she was not ready "100% mentally or physically," while goalkeeper Mary Earps and midfielder Fran Kirby retired from international soccer. All three were in England’s title-winning team at Euro 2022.

"We can only control ourselves and how good we can be," England captain Leah Williamson said. "That noise it’s there, it is a factual thing,