The teams are out!Switzerland in red, Norway in white. Before kick-off, it’s time for the national anthems. One phrase in Norway’s song, Ja, vi elsker dette landet (Yes, We Love This Country), springs out. “Love,loveit!” As far as we’re aware, and admittedly we’ve done no research, it’s the only allusion to a Premier League manager suffering a nuclear meltdown inanynational hymn. As for the Swiss Psalm, it’s by all accounts not very popular in Switzerland, to the point where a TV competition was held in 2014 to rewrite it or come up with a better one. Apparently the results of that were met with a wave of apathy as well. To gently tweak a line from the great 20th-century philosopher Jerome Seinfeld, people do not like to say Swiss Psalm.
The Guardian’s team of experts have made their pre-tournament predictions.Fans of the two teams competing this evening shouldn’t get too excited: Suzanne Wrack goes as far as saying Norway have the capacity to “not be disappointing”, but that faint praise is as good as it gets. Elsewhere, Switzerland is only mentioned with regards to hosting and being a pleasant tourist destination. Hey, you’ve got to call it as you see it.
A major tournament simply isn’t a major tournament without a wallchart.Don’t worry if you haven’t been able to source one, because our resident artistic genius David Squires has been to work and has your back. You know the pack drill:Print it out! Pin it up! Fill it in! Make a series of primary-school-level errors while filling out at least one of the final tables!
The opening match of Euro 2025 also kicked off proceedings in Group A.Finland shocked ten-woman Iceland thanks to Katariina Kosola’s second-half strike; Barry Glendenning was all over that, in the modern, fashionable, minute-by-minute style. As a result of that game in Thun, this is how the table looks before tonight’s match in Basel.
- Finland P1 W1 D0 L0 F1 A0 Pts 32. Norway P0 W0 D0 L0 F0 A0 Pts 03. Switzerland P0 W0 D0 L0 F0 A0 Pts 04. Iceland P1 W0 D0 L1 F0 A1 Pts 0
Switzerland captain Lia Wälti’s knee has been playing up of late, but she’s fine to start.Sydney Schertenleib, the 18-year-old from Barcelona who is strongly tipped to become one of the next generation’s superstars, is on the bench.
Norway’s front line is led by Ada Hegerberg, who will be looking to score her first goal in a major international tournament since the 2015 World Cup (having spent five years in self-imposed exile, and missed nearly all of the 2023 World Cup through injury).The first-ever winner of the women’s Ballon d’Or will be assisted by this year’s runner up Caroline Graham Hansen, and current WSL player of the year Guro Reiten.
Switzerland:Peng, Beney, Calligaris, Stierli, Maritz, Riesen, Ivelj, Walti, Vallotto, Reuteler, Xhemaili.Subs: Herzog, Wandeler, Crnogorcevic, Terchoun, Sow, Balleste, Mauron, Folmli, Pilgrim, Schertenleib, Lehmann, Bohi.
Norway:Fiskerstrand, Bjelde, Mjelde, Tuva Hansen, Lund, Risa, Caroline Hansen, Engen, Maanum, Hegerberg, Reiten.Subs: Panengstuen, Woldvik, Ostenstad, Saevik, Kielland, Harviken, Ildhusoy, Terland, Jensen, Naalsund, Gaupset, Mikalsen.
Referee:Alina Pesu (Romania).
The hosts take on a sleeping giant in Basel.Switzerland don’t have much of a record at the Euros: they’ve only qualified twice before, in 2017 and 2022, failing to get out of the groups on both occasions. Norway on the other hand are past masters: champions in 1987 and 1993, and runners-up four other times. But the word past is instructive there: Norway, erstwhile World and Olympic champions as well, aren’t the force they once were, having failed to get through the groups at the last two Euros –rememberthat8-0 defeat to England three years ago?– and falling to their current Fifa ranking of 16th in the world, the joint-lowest mark in their history. So while Switzerland, ranked 23rd, may be very much second best historically, there’s not so much of a gap between the countries right now.
Having said all that, Norway will still fancy their chances this afternoon.They’ve beaten Switzerland twice already this year, in the Nations League, while the Swiss are six without a win in competitive matches. The hosts, who are without the injury-stricken Ramona Bachmann, will look to Arsenal midfielder Lia Wälti for inspiration; Norway have plenty of star power up front in Caroline Graham Hansen and Ada Hegerberg. Can the hosts get off on the good foot, or will Norway rediscover their mojo?Kick-off is at 8pm UK time.It’s on!