UEFA Women's EURO 2025 analysis: Attacking the space behind

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.

In this third of a series of three video-analysis articles, UEFA Technical Observer Anna Signeul explores the strategies seen to exploit space behind the back line.

Signeul begins with Lauren James' opening goal for England against the Netherlands. She observes how England invite the high pressure from their opponents before looking to take advantage of the fact they have left a 3v3 at the back with a long pass upfield to Alessia Russo.

"This is about high pressure and finding the space in behind," says Signeul. "It's a fantastic pass from Hannah Hampton. It's driven and low and goes through the whole Dutch team. The England team had a game plan to open up the central area for Hampton's delivery."

Signeul has noted a general improvement in goalkeepers' kicking at this EURO, and she offers another example with Lisa Lichtfus' ball to Justine Vanhaevermaet in the lead-up to Tessa Wullaert's opening goal in Belgium's victory against Portugal.

"Justine Vanhaevermaet is the target for the goalkeeper and it's about everyone knowing their roles," says Signeul. "We then see two runners prepared to go in behind – wing-back Jill Janssens and the forward Wullaert.

"It's about exploiting the opposition's shape and finding this area in behind, and what you saw again was the quality of the pass, the timing of the runs and the acceleration."

The third goal under the microscope is the Julia Stierli own goal that earned Norway victory over hosts Switzerland.

Signeul notes that Norway create an overload centrally and show patience in their build-up; the movement of Caroline Graham Hansen is the "trigger" for the pass and surge down the left that follows.

She also praises the "quality of the ball" from Graham Hansen, while stressing the importance of getting bodies into the box to force defensive errors.

Finally, Signeul assesses Alexia Putellas' goal from Mariona Caldentey's diagonal pass behind the back line in Spain's win against Portugal.

As Signeul explains, Spain typically look to penetrate with overloads, but when they cannot progress that way they will switch sides, which is what Mariona does here. "Esther [González] and Alexia are both signalling their desire to run in behind, and Esther's run is important to engage other defenders," she adds of the movement of those front players.

"When you find the space, you need the trigger between the passer and the receiver. It's about the quality of the pass and of the run, and we saw some fantastic runs here."

Read our previous video analysis of combination plays here.