Poland vs Sweden facts

Matchday 2 continues in Lucerne as UEFA Women's EURO debutants Poland face former winners Sweden in Group C.

Poland fell to a 0-2 defeat to eight-time winners Germany on 4 July, when Sweden secured a 1-0 win over neighbours Denmark.

Sweden will be through to the quarter-finals if they beat Poland and Denmark do not beat Germany in the other Matchday 2 Group C game.

Poland will be unable to reach the quarter-finals if they lose to Sweden and Germany avoid defeat by Denmark.

Previous meetings

This is the first time the nations have contested a major tournament fixture, although they met in qualifying ahead of the 1991 and 2017 events. Sweden won all four fixtures, scoring 13 goals and conceding just one.

The first two of those also doubled as qualifiers for the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup, while the teams were involved in two further World Cup qualifiers ahead of the 2015 tournament, Sweden winning 2-0 in Malmö and 4-0 in Gdańsk.

Their last meeting was a 4-2 friendly win for Sweden in April 2021. Poland's Ewa Pajor and Sweden's Stina Blackstenius both scored twice in Lodz before late goals from Caroline Seger and Lina Hurtig earned victory for the visitors.

Form guide

Poland

Two second-half Germany goal at Arena St.Gallen on Matchday 1 inflicted defeat in what was Poland's first-ever fixture at a Women's EURO final tournament.

Poland lost all six games in qualifying Group A4, scoring four goals and conceding 17, but were successful in the play-offs, beating Romania 6-2 on aggregate (2-1 a, 4-1 h) and Austria 2-0 (1-0 a, 1-0 h).

Poland have reached the finals for the first time at the 11th attempt. This is also their first participation in a major international tournament.

Having struck five times, including three during the play-offs, Natalia Padilla was Poland's top scorer during qualifying, while the nation's all-time top scorer – Pajor – managed four overall.

Nina Patalon's side were top of Group B3 in the 2023/24 UEFA Women's Nations League, picking up 16 points from a possible 18 in finishing ahead of Serbia, Ukraine and Greece.

Patalon has been in charge since succeeding Miłosz Stępiński in March 2021.

Sweden

Filippa Angeldahl got the only goal ten minutes into the second period at Stade de Genève on Matchday 1 as Sweden began their 2025 Women's EURO campaign with three points against Denmark.

With a record of W2 D2 L2 Sweden finished ahead of Republic of Ireland but behind France and England in qualifying Group A3. They progressed to the play-offs as a result, and recorded a 12-0 aggregate victory against Luxembourg (4-0 a, 8-0 h) before reaching the finals with an 8-0 defeat of Serbia (2-0 a, 6-0 h).

Filippa Angeldahl, Blackstenius and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd all scored four goals in qualifying.

Sweden defeated England 4-3 on penalties in Luton, former head coach Pia Sundhage converting the winning spot kick, in the two-legged final (1-0 h, 0-1 a) of the inaugural UEFA-run European Competition for Women's Football in 1984.

Making their 12th finals appearance and ninth in succession in 2025, Sweden have reached a further three finals, losing to Norway in 1987 (1-2) and Germany in both 1995 (2-3) and 2001 (0-1 aet golden goal).

Sweden lost 0-4 to hosts England in the 2022 semi-finals, the third successive EURO in which they had been eliminated by the eventual champions. They have reached the knockout stages in all seven tournaments since a group stage was introduced in 1997, when they were co-hosts.

Ever-presents at the Women's World Cup, Sweden finished third in 2023; they were finalists in 2003 and won Olympic silver in both 2016 and 2021.

Peter Gerhardsson has been in charged since succeeding Sundhage after Women's EURO 2017.

Key facts

• Poland had won ten and drawn one of their previous 11 international matches prior to their Matchday 1 defeat against Germany.

• Poland captain Ewa Pajor plays for Barcelona with Sweden's Fridolina Rolfö, while Poland's Emilia Szymczak plays for the Catalan club's B team level.

• Sweden are unbeaten in 13 international matches (W9 D4).

• Lina Hurtig's first goal for Sweden came against Poland on 22 September 2015 in that UEFA Women's EURO 2017 qualifier in Gothenburg (3-0).