The Navigators are hopeful of reaching the knockout stage for the first time but recent form has tempered expectations
This article is part of the Guardian’s Euro 2025 Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 16 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from two teams each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 2 July.
Portugal want more. After featuring at the 2017 and 2022 European Championships, as well as the 2023 World Cup, the “Navigators” think that the time has come to do more than just taking part. This time they want to do something unprecedented for the women’s team: to get out of the group and Switzerland, a country with a large Portuguese community, is an ideal place to make history.
The qualifying campaign fuelled this sense of expectation. Portugal did not lose any of the 10 games they played – six in the first phase and then four more in two playoff rounds against Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic.
The recent Nations League campaign was a wake-up call though and old doubts have resurfaced: are Portugal really ready to fight against the strongest teams on the continent? After a promising start, with a draw at home against England and a win in Belgium, Francisco Neto’s team endured four consecutive defeats – conceding 20 goals and scoring only three – and ended up relegated to League B.
