7 films celebrating women in sport after the Lionesses win Euro 2025
In a repeat of the 2023 World Cup final, the Lionesses avenged that heartbreaking defeat in Sydney two years ago by clawing back the win during penalties.
After a nervy 120 minutes, Hannah Hampton was the hero in the shootout, saving three penalties, giving Chloe Kelly the chance to score the winning spot-kick.
It marks the first time an England team has won a major trophy on foreign soil, so naturally, fans of the sport are over the moon.
Women's sporting achievements are often overshadowed in the public eye, with the Lionesses' win shining a light on their importance for younger generations dipping their toes into sports.
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Various films across the decades have celebrated women in sports, whether that be football, boxing, cricket, or more obscure activities.
Following the Lionesses' Euro win, dive into these seven flicks available to stream and rent right now, highlighting incredible sportswomen both fictional and in real life.
Where to watch: ITVX and Disney Plus
Is there a more perfect film to celebrate the England women's football team than Bend It Like Beckham? And what's more, we'll have a sequel to enjoy soon, too.
Released in 2002, Bend It Like Beckham starred Keira Knightley and Parminder Nagra and is credited with inspiring a generation of girls to take up football.
Its plot follows Jesminder Bhamra (Nagra), who dreams of a career in professional footie. However, her Sikh parents want her to study for a law degree and get married.
She meets Jules Paxton (Knightley), a white female striker who invites Jess to join the local women's team.
Where to watch: Available to rent on Apple TV
Despite being financially unsuccessful, Whip It gained a cult following while also highlighting the incredible sport of roller derby to the masses.
Directed by Drew Barrymore and based on Shauna Cross' 2007 novel Derby Girl, it follows Texas teen Bliss Cavendar (Elliot Page), who is falling out of love with the beauty pageant world.
She attends a roller derby match between the Holy Rollers and the Hurl Scouts and falls in love with the sport, joining the latter behind her parents' backs.
Where to watch: Available to rent and buy on Prime Video
Fight like a girl with Girlfight, directed by Karyn Kusama, who wrote the screenplay after learning the sport herself.
Starring Michelle Rodriguez in her film debut, it follows a troubled Brooklyn high school student, Diana Guzman (Rodriguez), who regularly finds herself in trouble at school.
She channels her aggression into becoming a boxer, despite the disapproval of her father (Paul Calderón) and her competitors in the male-dominated sport.
Where to watch: Available to rent on Prime Video, Apple TV, and the Sky Store
Starring Madonna, Geena Davis, and Tom Hanks, A League of Their Own is a sports comedy with real heart.
Set during World War II, sisters Dottie (Davis) and Kit (Lori Petty) are drafted into an all-women's baseball league.
They are led by Jimmy Dugan (Hanks), an alcoholic former star who struggles to manage the team and coach them to victory.
Where to watch: Netflix
Nyad is based on the real-life record-breaking American sports figure Diana Nyad, and was a box office and critical success at the time of its release.
Nyad sees four-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening play swimmer Nyad, who, with support from her best friend and coach Bonnie Stoll (Jodie Foster), starts training at the age of 60 to finally attempt achieving her life-long dream: a 110-mile open ocean swim from Cuba to Florida.
It co-stars Rhys Ifans as Nyad's chief navigator on her quest, John Bartlett, as well as Anna Harriette Pittman as the young version of Diana, Erica Cho, Luke Cosgrove, Eric T. Miller, and Garland Scott.
Where to watch: Available to rent on Prime Video and the Sky Store
Jeff Bridges, Missy Peregrym, and Vanessa Lengies star in the 2006 sports comedy Stick It from Bring It On writer Jessica Bendinger.
It follows Haley (Peregrym), a gifted athlete who, after her final brush with the law, is sentenced by a judge to join an elite gymnastics academy.
Under the tutelage of legendary coach Burt Vickerman (Bridges), she harnesses her natural ability for the sport while her rebellious attitude wins both friends and enemies alike.
Where to watch: Available to rent and buy on Prime Video More Trending
The Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby is one of the most influential sports films of modern times, often being cited as one of the greatest films of the 21st century.
Starring Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, and Morgan Freeman, it follows cantankerous boxing trainer Frankie Dunn (Eastwood), who agrees to train Maggie Fitzgerald (Swank), a waitress and aspiring boxer.
Maggie fights her way through the amateur tournaments, earning herself a reputation for quick knockouts, but she must battle with her self-doubt, her underappreciative coach, and the disapproval of her parents to achieve victory.
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MORE: 'If that's not a sign…' – Ella Toone shares poignant tribute to 'angel' dad after Euro 2025 win
MORE: Emmerdale celebrates the Lionesses' Euros victory with last minute special scene
MORE: England Euro 2025 hero second favourite to win Sports Personality of the Year
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BreakingNews.ie
a minute ago
- BreakingNews.ie
England lift Euros trophy in front of thousands at Buckingham Palace
The England Women's football team have lifted their European Championships trophy outside Buckingham Palace as thousands joined in the celebrations of their dramatic victory. The Lionesses were cheered by thousands of fans along The Mall on Tuesday after the team defended their Euros title with a penalty shootout win over Spain in the final in Basel, Switzerland. Advertisement Wearing white Nike T-shirts and England scarves, the team took photos with their phones as the buses travelled down the street, led by the Band of His Majesty's Royal Marines Portsmouth and flanked on either side by cheering fans waving flags. Buses carrying England players and staff make their way down The Mall (Adam Davy/PA) Manager Sarina Wiegman danced alongside afrobeat star Burna Boy on stage while there was also a performance of Proud by Heather Small, before captain Leah Williamson lifted the trophy in the air to huge cheers. The squad then posed for photos with the gathered fans on the Mall amid a large red fireworks display, before singing along to Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline as it played over the speakers. Speaking on stage at the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of the palace to host Alex Scott, a tearful Williamson said: 'I've been crying all the way down The Mall. Advertisement All for this moment! ❤️ — Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 29, 2025 'This is unbelievable, probably one of the best things we've ever, ever been a part of, so thank you for coming out.' Williamson described the team as 'special, special people', adding: 'We love each other, we've got each other's back on and off the pitch. 'We had tough moments, nasty things to deal with, and still we rise.' Chloe Kelly, who scored the winning penalty in the Euros final, swore as she celebrated on stage. Advertisement Fans gathered around the stage on The Mall as celebrations were in full swing (Yui Mok/PA) The forward told host Alex Scott: '(It is) so good to stand side by side with every single one of these girls throughout the whole tournament, and the staff that you don't see behind the scenes. It's incredible. 'Thank you to everyone that got out to support us, whether that's in Switzerland or here today. It's so f****** special.' Scott immediately apologised to the crowd for the language. Alessia Russo, who scored England's equaliser with a header against Spain in the final, described the celebrations on The Mall as 'a bit surreal'. Advertisement England players gather on the steps of the Victoria Memorial during a Homecoming Victory Parade (Yui Mok/PA) Asked by BBC News how she was feeling whilst on the open-top bus, she said: 'Tired, but on cloud nine. I mean, this is just unreal. 'We didn't really know what to expect coming into it today, but everyone was so excited on the bus, and it feels so nice to come back to England and celebrate with our fans.' Asked to describe the scenes in central London, Russo added: 'It's just a bit surreal. It's crazy to see this many people come out in the home of England at London, heading up to Buckingham Palace – it's just crazy. 'I'd never have dreamed of anything like it.' Advertisement Celebrations on home soil began on Monday when the team landed at Southend Airport in Essex, where hundreds of fans waited to catch a glimpse of Sarina Wiegman's side and the trophy. England attended a reception at Downing Street hosted by UK deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and sports minister Stephanie Peacock. A large fireworks display followed the trophy lift outside the palace (Ben Whitley/PA) UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer offered 'a huge, huge congratulations to you and to the whole team' as he spoke with Wiegman and some of the team via a video call from the garden of No 10. Britain's King Charles also congratulated the European champions on Monday, saying in a statement posted on X: 'You have shown through your example over past weeks that there are no setbacks so tough that defeat cannot be transformed into victory, even as the final whistle looms. 'Well done, Lionesses.' Royal celebrations could continue for the team as plans for a reception at either Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle in the autumn are being explored by royal aides, it is understood.
The Guardian
a minute ago
- The Guardian
It's staying home: England's road to Euro 2025 glory
Over little more than three weeks in July, from Zurich via St Gallen, and Lancy to Basel, Guardian writers have followed every step of England's journey across Switzerland during Women's Euro 2025. Under Sarina Wiegman, the Lionesses became the first England team to win a trophy on foreign soil. Here are our favourite pictures coupled with excerpts from our match reports and blogs. GAME 1: GROUP D 5 JULY, STADION LETZIGRUND France 2 (Katoto 36, Baltimore 39) England 1 (Walsh 87) England's goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, right, fails to save a shot by France's Sandy Baltimore as England stumbled in their opening game of the tournament. Photograph above: Michael Buholzer/AP. Click on the images below to reveal further captions. The hour mark was approaching when Sarina Wiegman rolled the dice or, perhaps more accurately, reached for the comfort blanket. A salvage operation of this scale had not been part of anyone's masterplan, but at least Ella Toone and Chloe Kelly knew exactly how to move the dial at a European Championship. They were the history makers at Wembley in England's most recent appearance on this stage; if it was going to be anyone, it surely had to be them. There were to be no heroics this time, even if Selma Bacha's late clearance was ultimately all that came between Wiegman's players and a draw. That statement is, in itself, illusory because the manager must face questions about her selection here. She had plumped for Lauren James's explosive gifts in the No 10 position, sticking to the claim that the Chelsea forward was ready to ramp up her recovery from injury, but the call backfired badly. England were misshapen and leggy where it mattered; the game simply got away from them and so, with another ill-conceived step against the Netherlands, could their Euro 2025 campaign. A positive reading might be that England were sharpened up here: given the jolt reigning champions sometimes Ames GAME 2: GROUP D 9 JULY, STADION LETZIGRUND England 4 (James 22 60, Stanway 45, Toone 67) Netherlands 0 England's Georgia Stanway celebrates scoring their second goal with Ella Toone in a resounding performance against fellow heavyweights the Netherlands. Photograph above: Annegret Hilse/Reuters. Click on the images below to reveal further captions. From shambolic to sublime, England brushed off fears of a group-stage exit with a thrilling and clinical defeat of the Netherlands. England know how to win knockout matches and that was the territory they had entered a little earlier than planned. They also know how to shake off a defeat against top-level teams, their 2-1 Nations League loss to France in May 2024 followed by a 2-1 win over the same opposition in Saint-Étienne four days later. They also knew they had lost opening games and gone far at the World Cup in 2015 and the Euros in 2009. Messages came in from former Lionesses to remind them of those things, the Euro 2022 group chat still active. The difference between the sloppy and slightly shellshocked play against France and the focused and aggressive football played against the Netherlands in a sunny Stadion Letzigrund was night and day. The threat of an exit had sharpened the minds and the passing significantly, and Keira Walsh, Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone dictated play from the middle and increased the potency of Lauren Hemp and Lauren James out wide as Andries Jonker's side got narrower and narrower. England's title defence is well and truly alive, but they will be cautious. Suzanne Wrack GAME 3: GROUP D 13 JULY, ARENA ST GALLEN England 6 (Stanway 13pen, Toone 22, Hemp 30, Russo 44, Mead 72, Beever-Jones 89 Wales 1 Cain 76 Ella Toone scores England's second goal against Wales in a widely-expected demolition job that sealed their place in the knock-out stages. Photograph above: Annegret Hilse/Reuters. Click on the images below to reveal further captions. Sarina Wiegman said her Lionesses side found a sense of 'urgency' to book their place in the quarter-finals of the European Championship with a comfortable 6-1 victory over Wales. 'This urgency comes [after the France defeat],' the England head coach said. 'You could see the togetherness of our team. We knew today would be a different game because we knew we would have the ball a lot. I'm very happy with the performance. We knew that Wales really wanted to fight and we tried to stay out of it. I think in most of the moments we did but in the beginning we were sloppy.' A key part of England's improved form during a tough Group D was a shift in gameplan from Wiegman and the coaching staff . One change has been the introduction of Ella Toone back into the No 10 role against the Netherlands with the ever-creative Lauren James moving out to the right. Keira Walsh, the Uefa player of the match, credited Toone for England's change in fortunes. 'She's come in and done an incredible job,' she said. 'People speak about her off ensively, but the defensive work she does for me and Georgia [Stanway] when she's in [the No 10 role] is incredible. She covers a lot of spaces that we can't.' Sophie Downey GAME 4: QUARTER-FINAL 17 JULY, STADION LETZIGRUND Sweden 2 (Asllani 2, Blackstenius 25) England 2 (Bronze 79, Agyemang 81) AET England won 3-2 on penalties England's Lucy Bronze scores a penalty past Sweden goalkeeper Jennifer Falk during the shootout after an epic comeback from two goals down. Photograph above: Martin Meissner/AP. Click on the images below to reveal further captions. The Letzigrund looks gorgeous under a pale pastel evening sun. The noise washes over the athletics track where Carl Lewis and Asafa Powell once broke the world record, and where Sweden are now flying out of the blocks and leaving England trailing in their dust. We do not yet know that in many ways this is simply the prologue, that this devastating early two-goal flurry is actually relatively benign in comparison with the carnage that will follow. We do not yet know that Lauren James will end up playing almost an hour in a double pivot. We do not yet know that Lucy Bronze will end up wearing the captain's armband on her wrist and kicking a giant credit card advert. Hannah Hampton, nose still unbloodied, has not the faintest inkling that this will end up being the greatest night of her career. But they all know something. Even if they're not entirely conscious of it. Even as an utterly shambolic England trail Sweden 2-0 and the obituaries for their campaign are being scribbled, there is a little knot of refusal there, a team with an entirely unwarranted calmness at its core, a team that against all the available visual evidence still trusts that everything is going to work out. Perhaps the hallmark of certain great teams is in sensing almost subconsciously when they are allowed to play badly and when they are not, when the level needs to be raised, when the stakes are at their sharpest. Jonathan Liew GAME 5: SEMI-FINAL 22 JULY, STADE DE GENÈVE England 2 (Agyemang 90+5, Kelly 120) Italy 1 (Bonansea 33) England won in extra time Chloe Kelly celebrates with Michelle Agyemang after scoring the winning goal late in extra-time. Photograph above: Jose Breton/NurPhoto/Shutterstock. Click on the images below to reveal further captions. Chloe Kelly said England's saviour Michelle Agyemang has the 'world at her feet' after the 19-year-old striker's late leveller rescued the defending champions in their nerve-jangling semi-final victory against Italy. England's remarkably late comeback, with Agyemang scoring in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time before Kelly's winner in the penultimate minute of extra time, booked the Lionesses a place in their third consecutive major tournament final. 'Big Mich at it again!' Kelly said to ITV Sport, discussing Agyemang's third goal in four senior international games since her April debut. 'She's unbelievable and she should have scored again: that one that hit the crossbar. She's an unbelievable player and she's got the world at her feet, a young player with a bright future and I'm absolutely buzzing for her.' The match was played two days after Jess Carter revealed she had received what the England team described as poisonous racist abuse on social media. The Lionesses said they were not going to take the knee before the game. Instead, the substitutes stood arm in arm on the touchline before kick-off, including Kelly, who said: 'I'm so proud to stand side by side with the girls in this team; Jess Carter and every single player in this team.' Tom Garry GAME 6: FINAL 27 JULY, ST JAKOB-PARK England 1 (Russo 57) Spain 1 (Caldentey 25) AET England won 3-1 on penalties Click on the images below to reveal further captions. Penalties: England 2-1 Spain (in the shootout). Now the pressure is on Spain and who else but Aitana Bonmatí? She steps up but Hannah Hampton saves!! Penalties: England 2-1 Spain. Now the pressure really is on Spain but England cannot afford to slip up here. For England it's Leah Williamson. The captain misses. Penalties: England 2-1 Spain. So Spain have a chance to level it again here. It's Salma Paralluelo and she misses. Penalties: England 3-1 Spain. Oh my word. These shootouts. If England score here they win the tournament. It's Chloe Kelly. Huge pressure on her shoulders and she scores. ENGLAND HAVE WON THE EUROS ON PENALTIES Wow. Oh my word. What have we just watched? Kelly clutch. Hannah Hampton unbelievable. Niamh Charles coming on in that second half of extra time and scoring a cracking penalty. The whole team able to stay present after saves from both goalkeepers. Sarina Wiegman has been an international manager for three Euros. She has won every single one. Sarah Rendell
South Wales Guardian
3 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
Emmerdale fans 'beyond done' with two 'detested' characters
These opinions were expressed about Joe Tate and Dawn Fletcher, who had been involved in an affair storyline in recent months. However, some viewers have grown particularly tired of Joe's involvement in the ITV soap. Taking to the r/Emmerdale Reddit page, one fan captioned a post: "Beyond done with Joe AND Dawn ... can they please just go to Dubai as well and like, never come back??" A post shared by Emmerdale (@emmerdale) They added: "Soaps need their villains, I completely understand that. And I love a great villain character and arc. But this "person" - I don't think I've detested a character more. And if that is the goal ... BRAVO Emmerdale! "Frankly he (and Dawn) just make me want to turn off the screen when they are on. I used to just fast forward, but there are storylines that involve other characters now, so I just suffer through LOL. "Honestly, he didn't annoy me this much during his first stint (thank goodness there was Graham); but he is an absolutely horrendous, morally bankrupt, irredeemable, soulless creature." Plenty of Emmerdale fans seemed to agree with the original post, sharing their thoughts in the comments. One said: "Joe and Dawn together ruins both of their characters for me. Dawn's main positive trait was that she really cared about her kids and now that's been shattered. Her picking him over her children makes her so unlikeable. "Likewise Joe playing happy families also makes him look irredeemably awful because he obviously has no real care for those kids at all. It's so inauthentic and I can't wait for it to be over." Another shared: "Also they don't have a single spark of attraction or chemistry from day one, definitely doesn't help. "Joe has been a joke character since he came back." One viewer seemed to think Joe's storylines were intended for another character, as they explained: "I honestly think that this story was meant for Jamie (without Dawn arc) but they did not get the actor to come back. "That's why it feels little off joe's character compared what he was. I see Jamie here alot! He was always a whiny little brat!" Another was frustrated by the degradation of Dawn's character, as they wrote: "Didn't Dawn have a 'job'? She used to do something for Home Farm and then she was at Take a Vow (Joe conning an investment/take over). Recommended reading: The 'unbearable' Emmerdale star fans want written off as they 'skip every scene' Emmerdale makes major last-minute change to mark Lionesses' Euro win Emmerdale fan favourite returns as viewers 'convinced' he's part of iconic family "All she seems to do now is drink tea and look concerned." Not everyone felt the same, as one viewer defended the need for characters like Joe in the soap. They said: "I like Joe. I think he's a fun, soapy villain and I'm glad the show doesn't try too hard to make him sympathetic like they do with other characters who have done horrible things and gotten away with it. "You need characters like Joe to drive the plot."
