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Summer is officially in full swing. We've already enough heatwaves to keep us going for the next several years. Our best sundresses are hanging ready in our wardrobes. Our notes apps are filled to the brim with lists of beer gardens and patios to try on the weekend. Our cupboards are stocked with SPF and aftersun. The only thing that could make this any better? Aside from a few days of weather that doesn't reach 30 degrees Celcius, what we need is some a summer sports Championship to become utterly obsessed with.
Luckily, there's plenty of that to go around. Wimbledon is well underway with Emma Raducanu already through to the third round. The World Athletics Championships are coming in September. And the Women's Euros 2025 are in full swing. If you weren't already obsessed with women's football, chances are, you and everyone you know were fully on board by 2022 when the English Lionesses made history bringing football home to Wembley in the last Euros Championships.
Naturally, we're all being the ladies from England — but we've got another team to cheer for this year: the Welsh Dragons.
The founders of Girls Watch Girls Play have got the intel.
Last time around, the Dragons only narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Euros. This year, however, they've made it onto the roster by beating Slovakia in the play-off semi-finals in the second leg thanks to goals from Jess Fishlock and Ceri Holland.
The Dragons were the last to qualify and have been dealt a tough hand in the group stage — they'll be facing England, France and the Netherlands. But so far, the Dragons seem more confident than ever.
Who is the Wales women's team manager Rhian Emilie Wilkinson?
The manager of the Welsh Dragons is Canadian Rhian Wilkinson, a former pro football player who played for Ottawa, Boston, Laval, and Portland, as well as the national Canadian team during her career. After retiring from playing in 2017, Wilkinson began her coaching career. She managed the Canadian under-17s, then the Canadian under-20s, before becoming an assistant for the Canadian women's team, then an assistant for the English women's team in 2021. She was made manager of the Welsh women's team in 2024.
"We’ve used the mountain as a theme and an image throughout this campaign," Wilkinson said ahead of the 2025 Euros. “[Qualifying] was always going to be an uphill battle with little setbacks. As we’ve moved towards the Euros, we’ve talked about the summit, the Everest part of it. That something is impossible until it isn’t. Outside Wales, people can think whatever they want. Our goal is to show up and deliver to the best of our ability.”
Who is the Wales captain Angharad James?
Age: 31
Instagram: @angharadjames10
Position: Midfielder
Club: Seattle Reign FC
Words of wisdom: "I really do believe we can go into this tournament and upset a few teams," captain Angharad James said. "As long as we perform, I really believe in us. I really, truly believe we will do well."
Who is the Wales women's team's goal keeper Olivia Clark?
Age: 23
Instagram: @livclark_
Position: Goalkeeper
Club: Leicester City W.F.C.
Words of wisdom: “I think our first game will be quite physical and people will see us as underdogs. But I think we can surprise a lot of people in this tournament,” she said to Irvine Times.
Poppy Soper
Age: 23
Instagram: @poppy.soper
Position: Goalkeeper
Club: Blackburn Rovers
Safia Middleton-Patel
Age: 20
Instagram: @saf_middleton
Position: Goalkeeper
Club: Manchester Utd.
Words of wisdom: “When I'm playing, that's when I'm hyperfocused,” Middleton-Patel said to the BBC. “When I am on the training ground or playing a game I don't hear anything — it's just the ball and myself.”
Lily Woodham
Age: 24
Instagram: @lilywoodham
Position: Defender
Club: Crystal Palace (on loan from Seattle Reign)
Gemma Evans
Age: 28
Instagram: @gemmaevass_
Position: Defender
Club: Liverpool F.C.
Words of wisdom: “If it takes a tooth to win the game, I'll lose all of them,” she said to the BBC after losing a tooth during a match in Dublin.
Rhiannon Roberts
Age: 34
Instagram: @razza_roberts
Position: Defender
Club: Real Betis Féminas
Words of wisdom: “We look after each other and we're going into the Euros fighting fit… When people say your group's really tough, we like it,” she said to Cardiff TV.
Josephine Green
Age: 32
Instagram: @josiexgreen
Position: Midfielder
Club: Crystal Palace F.C.
Words of wisdom: "I would like to think I'm someone the team can rely on," she said to the BBC. “No matter what is asked of me I want to step on to the pitch and do a job. I know what works and how to get the best out of myself, I have high expectations of myself.”
We spoke to the Lioness and Manchester United legend about preparations for the Euros, bouncing back from injury, and inspiring young girls and boys.
Hayley Ladd
Age: 31
Instagram: @hayleyladd
Position: Midfielder
Club: Everton F. C.
Words of wisdom: : “It is frustrating when you’re in those moments and you feel the team can do better," she said to The Herald Scotland. “But I reflect on those campaigns under different managers and I believe it has built us up to where we are now. We’ve learned different styles and we’ve got different attributes as a group. We’ve been tested along the way and that experience has rolled into us being in a really good shape now."
Charlotte Estcourt
Age: 27
Instagram: @charliestcourt
Position: Midfielder
Club: Bristol City W.F.C.
Esther Morgan
Age: 22
Instagram: @esthermorgan_2
Position: Defender
Club: Heart of Midlothian
Ella Powell
Age: 25
Instagram: @ellampowell_
Position: Defender
Club: Bristol City
Sophie Ingle
Age: 33
Instagram: @ingle08
Position: Midfielder
Club: N/A
Words of wisdom: "I'm feeling really good," she told BBC ahead of the Euros after an ACL injury. “Every day I'm on the pitch I feel more confident and more myself, and a lot of the girls this week have said 'it looks like you haven't been out for nine months' which is obviously a compliment and gives me more confidence.”
Ceri Holland
Age: 27
Instagram: @ceri_holland
Position: Midfielder
Club: Liverpool F.C.
Words of wisdom: “I don’t think the outside world is expecting much from us, but within we know what we want,” Holland said.
Jessica Fishlock
Age: 38
Instagram: @jessfishlock
Position: Midfielder
Club: Seattle Reign
Words of wisdom: “We’ve had some good Nations League performances yet never quite nailed the results we wanted,” she told The Guardian. “But the goal, all along, was preparing for Switzerland. We’ve broken through several ceilings – now we have to burst a big one.”
Rachel Rowe
Age: 32
Instagram: @rsrowe13
Position: Forward
Club: Southampton
Words of wisdom: “There are different generations in our group who have had different experiences. There are those who go to college and become full-time footballers from that,” she said to the BBC. "My journey was completely different, but it's moulded me into the person I am today."
Lois Joel
Age: 26
Instagram: @loisjoel
Position: Defender
Club: Newcastle W.F.C.
Alice Griffiths
Age: 24
Instagram: @alicegriffiths01
Position: Midfielder
Club: Durham Women's F.C.
Words of wisdom: “When you’re around people who make you feel like you’re good enough to be there and make you believe in yourself then it’s great, and you’re going to perform better and enjoy the environment,” she said.
Kayleigh Barton
Age: 37
Instagram: @kayleighgreen22
Position: Forward
Club: Charlton Athletic Women
Words of wisdom: She told the BBC, 'Would I like to be Wales manager one day? Of course!'
Hannah Cain
Age: 26
Instagram: @hannahjadecain
Position: Forward
Club: Leicester City W.F.C.
Words of wisdom: “We're super proud to have done what we've done and to have achieved what we've achieved and everybody in Wales… makes us feel as special as we should," she said.
Elise Hughes
Age: 24
Instagram: @elise__hughes
Position: Forward
Club: Crystal Palace
Carrie Jones
Age: 21
Instagram: @carriejones10
Position: Midfielder
Club: IFK Norrköping
Words of wisdom: "As footballers, I think we always look ahead to what’s next. Sometimes it gets us down, but now I’ve got a very balanced mindset, and it is important to see how far I’ve come,” she said.
Ffion Morgan
Age: 25
Instagram: @_ffionmorgan_
Position: Forward
Club: Briston City W.F.C.
Words of wisdom: “I think it was just our time. When the whistle went it’s all kind of a blur really, but that night was amazing. All our family were there, and only now it’s sinking in that we’re here. It was an unreal experience," she said.
