France v Cymru: EURO 2025 preview

Cymru take on France in St. Gallen on Wednesday evening (8pm) looking to build on the positives of Saturday’s defeat against the Netherlands and make their mark on the field at WEURO 2025.

Perennial underachievers, France have never reached the final of a major women’s tournament. However, they boast a wealth of talent and experience in their ranks and were clearly not phased by the challenge of taking on the winners of the last two EURO finals in Group D as they defeated holders England 2-1 on Saturday to kick-off their tournament in style.

“We’ve played France a couple of times before,” explained Cymru defender Rhiannon Roberts to UEFA on Monday, referring to the last World Cup qualifying campaign. “It’s just another game for us we’ll just focus purely on the football and be a little bit calmer.

“We’ve got to look at how far we’ve come over the years. We’ve got to take all the confidence that we’ve created from those games in the Nations League into these games now. We came really close against France on both occasions. We know that we can compete against these big teams, so it’s just keeping that belief.”

Roberts suffered a groin injury prior to the tournament and missed the final two Nations League games against Denmark and Italy. However, her recovery was a huge boost for head coach Rhian Wilkinson, and she will once again need to be at her defensive best if Cymru are to prevent France from registering their second win of the tournament.

Laurent Bonadei is the 55-year-old from Marseille was appointed head coach of France in August 2024 for what his is first senior coaching position. Bonadei was assistant under previous head coach Hervé Renard and has experimented with his tactical approach in preparation for his first major tournament with this team.

Like the Netherlands, France are also expected to play with a 4-3-3 formation in Switzerland and will have plenty of attacking options given the quality of player at their disposal, especially in the final third. France have also used a 3-4-3 formation during the last year and will be able to adapt their game if required.

“There’s no denying that France are a top footballing nation and they’ve got some powerhouse women in their team,” said Cymru defender Josie Green to UEFA. “So for us it’s about concentrating on how we can nullify those threats and utilise our strengths against their weaknesses.

“We have to just focus on the game, focus on what we can control, focus on our processes, and just individually, how best we can perform our game plan. I think that if we can do that then it’s going to be a good day for us. But it’s going to be tough no matter what, but I know this group, we have got it in us to pull something out of the bag if it all comes together. 

France striker Marie-Antoinette was on target against England on Saturday, and at the peak of her powers and the 26-year-old will be desperate to showcase her talent on the biggest stage having missed the last World Cup with an ACL injury. A key player for Paris Saint-Germain, Katoto has scored 39 goals in 56 games for her country and the Cymru defence cannot afford to give her an inch of space in the area.

Cymru and France were drawn together in qualifying for the 2013 EURO and the 2023 World Cup finals. France claimed two comfortable victories during that first campaign but the progress of Cymru was more than evident a decade later. Although France would complete the double with 2-0 and 2-1 victories, Cymru pushed their opponents all the way and could have taken at least a share of the points in both games.

One highlight of the opening game against the Netherlands was the passionate support of the Red Wall as thousands of Cymru fans made their way to Lucerne for that historic match. “We know the amount of money, time and energy that people have spent getting here to support us as a nation,” Green added. “It gives me goosebumps just thinking of it now. That’s something that really drives us as a group.”