Swiss hope hosting Euro 2025 sees girls and women flock to the game

BASEL, Switzerland :The traditionally green trams of Basel have been dressed in the purple and sky blue of the Women's Euro 2025 logo, while banners draped across buildings in the northwestern Swiss city read "Welcome to the Summit of Emotions," the tournament's slogan.

About a dozen people watched a band perform at the city's Euro Fan Zone, but looked more like shoppers keen to escape the heat under the picnic table umbrellas than football fans.

Euro 2025 hosts Switzerland kick off their tournament on Wednesday against Norway in Basel, a city better known as the country's unofficial cultural capital with its scores of museums.

While the sweltering heat and sold-out stadiums are early themes, the Swiss hosts are hoping the legacy of the tournament - played out across eight cities over the next month - will bolster female football in the country as Euro 2022 did for England.

"It's incredible, it's something when I started my national team career, I was never picturing," Switzerland captain Lia Walti said on Tuesday.

"I never thought we were going to be able to host a tournament and sitting here right now in Basel, just one day before a first game of a European Championship - it's extremely special for all of us.

"Women's football is growing worldwide, extremely fast as well in Switzerland, but we do still have a lot of steps to go here and we want to use the tournament and be positive role models, inspire the nation - and make sure that we can also be really successful in Switzerland in the future."

England's Football Association reported a 140 per cent jump in participation levels among girls and women in the season after Euro 2022, amounting to 2.3 million more players.

"Especially since that tournament, you're a lot more