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There were a lot of players who stepped up in order to drag England across the line in their Euro 2025 quarter-final against Sweden on Thursday night. Be it Lucy Bronze, who kickstarted the comeback from 2-0 down with a brilliant header before thumping her penalty beyond Jennifer Falk to swing the momentum in the Lionesses’ favour in the shootout. Michelle Agyemang’s another, the nerveless teenager who pounced on a loose ball to draw the reigning European champions level with her first major tournament goal. Hannah Hampton more than played her part, too, as she saved two spot-kicks in the shootout after making a couple of big saves in the game itself.
But no one changed this game quite like Chloe Kelly. The Arsenal winger had been on the pitch mere seconds when she whipped in a wonderful cross to the back post that Bronze connected with, heading home the goal that narrowed the deficit to 2-1 with a little over 10 minutes remaining. Then, almost straight after the restart, Kelly was at it again, as another delivery caused chaos in the Sweden box and led to Agyemang bagging the equaliser.
Completing the set with a nerveless penalty, before which she even managed to flash a smile at opposing goalkeeper Falk, this was a massive, pressure-defying performance from Kelly – one which surely has Sarina Wiegman thinking about how to use her in Tuesday’s semi-final clash with Italy.
The Women’s Euro 2025 Final will take place on Sunday, July 27 at St. Jakob-Park in Basel, Switzerland.
St. Jakob-Park is a Swiss sports stadium located in Basel, which was opened in 2001. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and, as well as staging internationals, it is home to Swiss Super League side FC Basel. Although the stadium capacity was increased to 42,500 for Euro 2008 matches, seats were removed following that tournament to create more space within the stadium, and the current capacity is now 37,500 for international matches. St. Jakob-Park was also the venue for the 2016 UEFA Europa League Final, where Sevilla beat Liverpool 3-1.
Women’s Euro 2025 tickets were made available through official UEFA channels atu0026nbsp;womenseuro.com and ticketcorner.ch, and demand has been high, with over 500,000 sold. Close collaboration with each national association, following the final tournament draw, helped process the sale of tickets to fans of the participating teams.
Yes, in addition, fans can purchase Women’s Euro 2025 semi-final tickets on the secondary market. StubHub is one of the leading retailers for those seeking to buy tickets through alternative channels. StubHub is a legitimate merchant in the ticket resale marketplace and a safe place for fans to buy tickets. StubHub’s website guarantees that you will get tickets in time for the event you are attending and a valid entry ticket.
It’s incredible to think that, six months ago, it looked like Kelly wouldn’t even be in the England squad for this tournament. The winger was completely out-of-favour at Manchester City, amid reports of a relationship breakdown with then-head coach Gareth Taylor, and Wiegman even admitted her lack of minutes was a “concern”.
A January transfer felt absolutely imperative if Kelly was to turn her fortunes around on the international front – yet, even that seemed difficult to achieve. Manchester متحد were interested, but City were unwilling to sanction a loan to their bitter rivals. Indeed, with a matter of hours left of the window Kelly wrote on Instagram: “To be dictated whom I can and can’t join with only four months left of the football season is having a huge impact on not only my career but my mental well-being. The situation has dragged on for too long, it’s disappointing and not right. I am human and I have and will give everything to the game that I love. Ultimately, I just want to be happy again.”
Fortunately, things changed dramatically when Arsenal came in with a last-minute loan offer. Kelly was heading back to the club she called her own between the ages of 12 and 20, and it was there that she completely turned her season around. After a frustrating start, which saw her second debut delayed due to Arsenal having two clashes with City and then a game in the cup, all of which she was ineligible for, the 27-year-old finally got back on the pitch in mid-February. From there, she just let loose.
Kelly started nine of Arsenal’s final 14 games of the season, unavailable for two of the five she didn’t, and registered two goals and five assists in that time, which was quite the contribution from someone who had barely played football that season before returning to north London. “I always said I really wanted to get my smile back and this has done just that for me,” she said of the move. “I’m very grateful.”
Things couldn’t have gone better, really, on the club front, with Kelly helping the Gunners lift the Champions League trophy at the end of May before making a permanent switch to the north Londoners in the weeks that followed. But it was also monumental on an international level, helping the winger get right back into the England picture in time to make the cut for the Euros.
“You never take for granted playing for your country, so I knew that I needed to get minutes and work hard to be able to be in this position,” Kelly said ahead of the tournament, with her absolutely grateful to be able to bounce back and return to the squad. But might she have her sights set on something more as Tuesday’s semi-final approaches?
Despite her undeniable status as an England icon, secured thanks to her dramatic extra-time winner in the final of Euro 2022, Kelly has never really been a consistent starter for the Lionesses. Three years ago, she was the super sub, and that was a role she held again at the 2023 Women’s كأس العالم, despite stating her case for a bigger role with some impactful involvements from the bench as England reached the final.
Now, at Euro 2025, the story is the same. Kelly might have been able to impressively assert herself on the Arsenal XI so quickly after rejoining the club earlier this year, but she remains a ‘finisher’, as Wiegman likes to call them, with England.
Surely, though, the Lionesses boss has to be considering offering Kelly an upgrade. The chaos that she can cause with her wide play is extraordinary, be it with her ability to take players on, strike at goal with either foot or, as stood out on Thursday, deliver such a remarkable variety of dangerous crosses.
Her style of play could be particularly suited to the semi-final match-up with Italy, too, who set-up in a 3-5-2 shape that gives wingers like Kelly the chance to wreak havoc in some rather uncomfortable areas, while running at centre-backs slightly less accustomed to such a challenge.
Asked recently if she sees a path into Wiegman’s XI this summer, Kelly certainly didn’t express any frustration about the role she currently holds. “We’ll see what happens,” she replied. “We don’t pick the team, but we know we need to be at our best to give our all to the team.”
She’s given the England boss every reason to consider making a change, though, as the Lionesses bid to reach a third successive major tournament final.
