Women's EURO draw guide: Group C
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Article summary
Can Iceland or debutants Austria and Switzerland top France? That is the question as we profile the teams in UEFA Women's EURO 2017 Group C.
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- The teams: France, Iceland, Austria, Switzerland
- The games (CET)
Tuesday 18 July
Austria v Switzerland (Deventer) 18:00
France v Iceland (Tilburg) 20:45
Saturday 22 July
Iceland v Switzerland (Doetinchem) 18:00
France v Austria (Utrecht) 20:45
Wednesday 26 July
Switzerland v France (Breda) 20:45
Iceland v Austria (Rotterdam) 20:45
- Three things to know
• France's perfect record in reaching the finals took them to a record run of 41 straight qualifying group wins.
• Iceland and France lost in the 2013 quarter-finals.
• Austria and Switzerland's 'derby' will be each team's debut in a UEFA Women's EURO finals.
- Reaction
Olivier Echouafni, France coach
I can't tell whether we'd call it a good draw or a bad draw. We will only find out during the competition itself. We know that we will face teams playing in this EURO for the first time. For us, it will be a real discovery but we'll be focused from the first game.
Freyr Alexandersson, Iceland coach
It's a pretty tough draw, but all the groups are tough. I expected to have a tough group and the good thing is that maybe we know the teams pretty well. We definitely know Switzerland from our previous matches in World Cup qualification. Regarding France, we have played them a lot over the years and we know they are probably [up there with] Germany as the favourites to win the whole thing.
Dominik Thalhammer, Austria coach
It's going to be a great experience for us. France are absolutely a world-class team, but the other sides are within our possibilities, I think. We'll try to make the best of it.
Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, Switzerland coach
It's a thrilling group made up of very different teams. France are always among the favourites, but they've never won a trophy – it's great for us to be facing a neighbouring country. Iceland gave a great impression in the qualifiers – they took inspiration from the men's team. Finally, Austria are newcomers in this competition, just like us. So it's a fascinating group with a lot of players from the Bundesliga. It's interesting and I'm very happy.