Euro qualifiers: Pia Sundhage’s women’s national team wins 4-0 over Azerbaijan in a match that could have registered a much wider gap. Here are the details of the match.
The Swiss national women’s soccer team wins six points in its first outings in qualifying for the 2025 European Women’s Football Championship. Before analyzing the match, let’s try to understand the reasons for the participation of the Red Swiss formation in this qualifying round.
Why is Switzerland participating in the Euro 2025 qualifiers?
Despite qualifying for the European Football Championship as the host nation, Switzerland will try its hand at the qualifiers with the goal of honing its preparation under the new coach and aspiring for promotion to the UEFA Women’s Nations League A. Recall that during the UWNL, the Swiss women suffered a heavy defeat against Soncin’s Italy Women’s team.
SEE ALSO: Euro 2025 group qualifiers how it works
Azerbaijan-Switzerland: match report
Nati gets its second consecutive victory despite numerous absences by scoring four goals. As demonstrated in the previous game against Turkey at the Letzigrund in Zurich, with two goals on corner kicks and one on a free kick, Pia Sundhage’s team confirmed its ability on set pieces. Vallotto celebrated her first goal in the national team in the 11th minute, scoring a penalty awarded for an opponent’s hand foul.
The Swiss women’s margin of advantage could have been greater if Viola Calligaris, a Juventus Women’s soccer player, had not missed a penalty kick and if Alisha Lehmann, in her 50th appearance for the national team, had managed to capitalize on a face-to-face goal opportunity with the opposing goalkeeper.
Despite not facing top-notch opponents, under Pia Sundhage’s leadership, the Swiss team showed improvements in aerial play. There is still much work to be done, but Swiss women’s soccer, during the 2025 European Championships, could prove to be a tough opponent for many teams.
