2025 Women's Under-17 EURO final preview: Netherlands vs Norway

The 2025 UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship final will be played between the Netherlands and Norway on Saturday in Tórshavn.

The lowdown

In a tournament that has been dominated by Germany and Spain ever since it launched in 2007/08, a new name will be on the trophy in 2025 after the only previous champions to even reach the semis, France, were eliminated on penalties by the Netherlands on Wednesday. The same day Norway won 3-1 against Italy, who last Sunday became the first team to eliminate Spain before the semi-finals since 2011/12.

The finalists previously met on 7 May at Tórsvøllur, the Netherlands winning 2-0 with goals from Ayah Eloualidi and Ranneke Derks to seal Group A first place with a game to spare, having already defeated Austria 4-1. Norway opened by winning 10-0 against the Faroe Islands in Tórshavn, and a subsequent 0-0 draw against Austria was enough to take them through ahead of their opponents on goal difference but behind the Netherlands (who were able to rest several players when beating the hosts 9-0 at Tórsvøllur, meaning all 20 of their squad had minutes in the group stage).

The Netherlands led their semi-final against France early through Liv Pennock but were pegged back late on for a penalty shoot-out which the Dutch won 4-3 thanks to two saves by the excellent Maren Groothoff. It means coach Sherida van Bruggen is into her second UEFA final in less than 12 months, after her side finished runners-up to Spain at WU19 EURO in Lithuania last July.

Norway, the only side to win all six of their qualifiers on the way to the Faroe Islands, hit top form in their Tórsvøllur semi-final against Italy. Christina Herseth's long-range opener was followed by an own goal before half-time and although they were pegged back early in the second half, Norway allowed Italy few more chances and a Marie Preus solo goal near the end confirmed her nation in their first WU17 EURO final, which happens to fall on their national day, 17 May.

Views from the camps

Sherida van Bruggen, Netherlands coach: "We are really looking forward to it. We have enjoyed the stay here and we are really looking forward to the final. Norway have a good team, otherwise they would not be in the final, like us."

Eline Kulstad-Torneus, Norway coach: "Oddly enough, the further we have come, the calmer and the more confident the girls seem. The mood is the best that it has been. We are just looking forward to playing the final.

"[The Netherlands] seem to play the same style of football – offensively, defensively – throughout every game. We don’t know what they will come with on Saturday, and they don’t know what we are going to come with, but I think the game will be quite similar to ten days ago, and what will decide the outcome will be our players being able to stand up in every situation and manage them as well as they can. The girls have learned a lot in this tournament and I am confident they can deal with the situations a bit better."

Rosalie Renfurm, Netherlands captain:"We are very excited. When I see the trophy I can only smell [the occasion], we can’t wait.”

“We know [Norway] have a good team, good players. But we have as well and we are ready for it."

Mille Flø, Norway captain: "We are excited. A bit nervous, but I think we will be fine. We have developed throughout the tournament and our last game was the best, so hopefully we can continue.

"We started the [group] game really well and could have scored a couple of goals in the first half, but we got out a bit slower in the second half. I hope that we can continue like we played against Italy and get some quick goals and keep going through the whole game.”

Women's U17 EURO final refereeing team

UEFA via Getty Images

Kirsty Dowle of England will referee the final, assisted by Tilde Larsson of Sweden and Angeliki Athanasopoulou of Cyprus, with Denmark's Nanna Løf Andersen as fourth official.

Dowle has refereed in Women's Champions League games and senior internationals, and was fourth official for the 2023/24 UEFA Women's Nations League semi-final between Spain and the Netherlands. Domestically, she refereed the 2022 Women's FA Cup final at Wembley among other major matches.

 Key stats

• The winners will be the fifth different WU17 EURO champions after Germany (8 titles), Spain (5), France (1) and Poland (1).
• Norway are in their first WU17 EURO final, the Netherlands their second after losing the 2019 decider to Germany on penalties. This is only the second final after 2013/14 to feature neither Germany nor Spain.
• Norway are aiming for their first UEFA youth title, having lost in five previous WU18/WU19 EURO finals. The Netherlands won WU19 EURO in 2014 and both nations have won the senior Women's EURO title.
• Norway's Marie Preus is current finals top scorer on four goals, one ahead of several players including team-mate Christina Herseth and the Netherlands' Ranneke Derks.
• This is the first UEFA tournament final to be played in the Faroe Islands.