UEFA Women's EURO 2025 analysis: Winning combinations

Over the course of UEFA Women's EURO 2025, UEFA's Technical Observer Group in Switzerland have been monitoring the key tactical themes shaping match outcomes in the tournament.

For the second in our series of three articles on these themes, UEFA Technical Observer Tanya Oxtoby explores the way that teams have used combination plays to unlock defences.

Oxtoby begins with a detailed analysis of England's use of overloads in wide areas in their Group D win over Wales.

She explains: "It's about patient build-up and allowing your team to get their structure right. There was nothing overly dynamic but they managed to get themselves into the right situation and occupy the right spaces and then there's a real change of intensity and purpose when they go forward looking to stretch and exploit the space between the full-back and the centre-back."

The lead-up to Stina Blackstenius' goal in a 3-0 win against Poland is the focus of the second video in which Oxtoby examines Sweden's wide play, explaining how they create overloads and get players into strong positions to maximise their 1v1 abilities.

"Credit to Sweden as they really made sure they exploited their strength – those 1v1s and overloads in the wide areas on the right-hand side and good numbers coming into the box."

Oxtoby puts another Sweden goal – by Filippa Angeldahl against Denmark – under the microscope in this video as she discusses how their team structure allows them to outnumber their opponents centrally, helping them control possession and make good use of it with players like Madelen Janogy operating inside and Kosovare Asllani bringing her creativity in the pockets.

"Just see the numbers they've got when they win possession back," says Oxtoby. "As the move plays on, they've got options centrally and they're operating between the lines."

Finland's use of a box midfield against Norway is the final example with Oxtoby explaining how that structure helped Marko Saloranta's team to outnumber Norway in the centre – a platform from which to spring forward.

"They give themselves an overload centrally," she says, "[and use] the maximum width on the right-hand side and their one-touch play with a change of pace as they look to go forward, really looking to exploit the spaces they create for themselves.”

See article 1 in the series here