Wales vs Netherlands facts
Monday, March 10, 2025
Article summary
Previous meetings, form guides and key facts ahead of the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 Matchday 1 fixture.
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Wales' first-ever major tournament fixture pits them against former winners Netherlands in Lucerne as UEFA Women's EURO 2025 Group D kicks off.
Champions in 2017, Netherlands qualified as Group A1 runners-up while Wales are featuring after navigating through the play-offs.
Previous meetings
The last competitive meetings between the two nations came in qualifying for UEFA Women's EURO 2009, when they were paired together in Group 4. Netherlands, who ultimately finished second in the group and went on to qualify for their first finals, were 2-1 victors in Volendam on 26 August 2007, before a 1-0 success in Newport on 20 February the following year. Manon Melis, the former top scorer for the Netherlands, was on target in both fixtures.
Netherlands also won home friendlies in 2012 (2-0) and 2017 (5-0), the latter their most recent meeting with Wales.
Form guide
Appointed head coach ahead of qualifying, Rhian Wilkinson led Wales to an unbeaten group stage campaign where they kept four clean sheets in winning four of their six games to finish ahead of Ukraine, Croatia and Kosovo in Group B4.
That took them through to the play-offs, where they squeezed past Slovakia (1-2 a, 2-0 h aet) before a 3-2 aggregate win over Republic of Ireland (1-1 h, 2-1 a) led them to their first major final tournament appearance.
Jess Fishlock, on target in four of six group stage games, was Wales' top scorer during qualifying with six goals.
That was Wales' eighth attempt at qualifying for the finals, while they fell at the final hurdle of qualifying for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup with a 1-2 extra-time defeat by Switzerland in the play-offs.
They took part in the first Women’s Nations League tournament in 2023/24, but picked up just one point from their six games in Group A3 to finish behind Germany, Denmark and Iceland. However, their point was earned in their last group fixture against eight-time European champions Germany.
Former Canadian international Wilkinson was appointed in February 2024.
With a record of W2 D3 L1, Netherlands finished behind Italy on head-to-head points in qualifying Group A1, enough to secure automatic passage to their fifth finals as they accumulated more points than both Norway and Finland.
There were just eight goals scored in Netherlands' six games, with Lineth Beerensteyn scoring three of her side's four goals.
As hosts Netherlands defeated Denmark 4-2 in the 2017 final in Enschede, all-time top scorer Vivianne Miedema (10, 89) striking in each half either side of goals from Lieke Martens (28) and Sherida Spitse (51).
The Oranje made their first appearance in the finals in 2009 when they reached the semi-finals, and they have been ever-presents since then, only failing to progress from the group stage in 2013.
Netherlands' 2022 tournament was ended by a 0-1 extra-time defeat by France in the quarter-finals after they had finished second behind Sweden in Group C (W2 D1).
Women's World Cup runners-up to the United States in 2019, Andries Jonker's side lost to champions Spain in the 2023 quarter-finals and finished fourth in the inaugural UEFA Women's Nations League in 2023/24.
Jonker succeeded Mark Parsons as head coach in August 2022, having previously been in charge on an interim basis in 2001. The 62-year-old is set to step down following Women's EURO 2025 and will be replaced by Arjan Veurink, who is currently assistant to England coach Sarina Wiegman.
Key facts
• Wales lost only one of their ten EURO 2025 qualifying group and play-off matches in 2024 (W6 D3).
• Netherlands did not lose a match in the group stage at the last two EURO tournaments (W5 D1).
• The Dutch have won two and drawn two of their four Matchday 1 fixtures at Women's EURO.