‘The spirit of the game is amazing' — fans await Lionesses in Basel

Times

27-07-2025

There were barely two minutes left to go of the semi-final when Craig Jones promised his daughter tickets to Basel on the off-chance England managed to turn around their seemingly inevitable 1-0 defeat by Italy. It was not a promise he planned to keep.
Yet Michelle Agyemang's equaliser in the 96th minute, followed by Chloe Kelly's goal in extra time, meant Jones, 35, a man of his word, spent the rest of the evening hastily booking tickets and hotels for Leona, nine, and her best friend Sofia, ten.
He and his neighbour Jamie Smith, 48, split the 12-hour drive from their hometown of Grimsby in a car plastered with England flags. The dads and daughters will be straight back into the car after the match this evening to make it back in time for work on Monday.
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All worth it, according to the girls — who claim they 'never gave up hope' of seeing the Lionesses make it to the final. Leona, who plays in defence, explained she loved watching the women's team because they 'could do things the men can't'.
'They're not always rolling around on the floor,' she said.
The families are among thousands of fans who have made it to Basel through any means necessary. Clad in England cowboy and bucket hats, bandannas, flags, crop tops and football shirts, they piled onto the Swiss trams this morning, informing fellow passengers that it was indeed 'coming home'.
Among them was 16-year-old Imogen Bownes from Nottingham, who has been saving up for months through her part-time job as a waitress. 'I paid for most of it except for the hotel,' she beamed.
Bownes travelled over with a group of fellow sixth formers she met through going to WSL games. Her friend, Alanna Modi, 17, said she wanted to be at the final to 'celebrate women's sport and witness the impact again of England winning the Euros'.
'After the last Euros there was so much more support for grassroots girls' teams and there's more around than there used to be,' she said. 'All my male friends now are pretty supportive, they enjoy it, they know some of the players.'
It is a world away from the one Jo Fox, 44, grew up in. 'This is the stuff you dreamed of as a kid,' said the former Arsenal academy player. 'What you see now, the crowd, the people, the spirit of the ladies' game is amazing. I never imagined I'd see this in my lifetime.'
Some fans have had to ditch long-made plans to make sure they were in the stands to cheer England on. One woman had arrived in Portugal this week with her wife and daughter but abandoned them to fly to Basel instead.
Presley Paterson, 11, was supposed to be playing a dancing giraffe in her year six play, but was only too happy to miss the last few days of primary school to travel around Switzerland. Meanwhile, her mother Jessica, 37, a head of year at a secondary, told her new boss during a job interview in April that she would only accept the role if she could be guaranteed the time off.
'I said look, I'm going to the Euros on these dates. Otherwise I'm not taking the job, just so you know.'
Presley said she was 'crying' during the quarter-finals when it looked like England were about to be knocked out by Sweden. 'And then we scored, and I started crying even more.'
A superfan of Lotte Wubben-Moy, Presley said she had a few tips for Sarina Wiegman, the England manager, who has not yet played the Arsenal defender. If she has to, she says, she will 'march onto the pitch and talk to her'.