Edition Two

Headlines

History was made at Wembley on Sunday evening as an extra time Chloe Kelly goal saw England crowned European champions for the first time with a 2-1 victory over Germany.?

The triumph saw England Women lift their maiden major trophy, and manager Sarina Wiegman win the European Championships for a second tournament in a row.

Euro 2022 witnessed attendance, goal scoring and broadcasting records broken over the course of the month, and the tournament concluded with the biggest records of them all being set. A European Championship record crowd of 87,192 poured into Wembley, while 17.4m tuned in on BBC One - the highest viewing figures for a women’s football match in the UK, and the UK’s most watched television event of the year.

Ahead of the final, England captain Leah Williamson spoke of how England’s journey at Euro 2022 extended beyond football, to gender equality in wider society.?

"I think for every success that we make and every change of judgement or perception or opening the eyes of somebody who views women as someone with the potential to be equal to their male counterpart, that makes change in society,” Williamson said.

"That's a powerful message we have the power to [spread] in a typically male dominated environment. These strides that we take forward can impact everybody on a wider scale."

Wiegman ended her post-final press conference by simply saying: “We changed society.”?

Deep Dives

Wiegman only took the England hot seat in September, but in the space of 10 months moulded the team into European champions. Having spent a month covering the Lionesses and speaking to team members, 90min EN explored what it was about Wiegman that the England players really valued, how she brought the best out of her team, and how she managed to achieve what she did.

90min EN was at Wembley to cover England’s famous Euro 2022 win, and spoke to players post-match to piece together the historic evening through their eyes.

Euro 2022 welcomed a collection of the most exciting footballing fan bases to England. Iceland were renowned for their sense of fun with their iconic viking thunder clap, and the team really caught the imagination with their flair down either flank and dogged team spirit. Iceland also had five mothers in their 23-player squad, including defender Sif Atladóttir. She spoke to 90min FR about how having children has changed her perspective of football, her role at the Icelandic Players Union, and how things are changing for Iceland’s younger generation of players.

Serious Stories

On 28 and 29 July, 90min and Minute Media attended Equal Playing Field’s Equality Summit.

A selection of influential people in the game descended upon Kings College London to discuss an assortment of issues via round tables, breakout rooms and panels - from making women’s football sustainable to the importance of male allies.

The event kicked off with England great Kelly Smith in conversation with former Australian international and lawyer Moya Dodd, to discuss Smith’s glittering career - from her iconic boot kissing celebration, to dealing with online trolls while doing punditry.

One of the most moving talks of the event saw the Guardian’s Suzy Wrack sit down with Khalida Popal, founder of the Afghanistan women’s football team, and Sarah Gregorious, Director of Global Policy & Strategic Relations at FifaProon. The trio talked through the battles fought off the pitch by the Afghan national team, and the wider implications for creating safe spaces for women.?

Two days of important conversations were rounded off by a rousing keynote speech from former Australian international Alicia Ferguson, getting attendees hyped for the 2023 World Cup and future of women’s football.

Lighter Bites

One of the most memorable images from Euro 2022 was eight-year-old England fan Tess Dolan dancing to Sweet Caroline after England’s semi final victory over Spain. The BBC surprised her with tickets to the final, and her day out at Wembley is one of the most wholesome things you could wish to see.

90min Highlights

90min had a selection of guest columnists offering insight during the tournament, with former Germany international Julia Simic writing for 90min GER, and Manchester City defender Esme Morgan writing for 90min EN - and successfully predicting Georgia Stanway’s stunning solo goal against Spain.

Over the course of July, 90min GER also released eight episodes of their women’s football podcast Raus aus dem Abseits - the first of its kind in Germany.

France and Italy enjoyed vastly different fortunes at the Euros, and 90min FR and 90min IT were on the ground to cover it every step of the way. You can watch both sides of the story for France’s 5-1 group stage victory over Italy on Instagram here and here.

The 90min Fan Van, driven expertly by Girls on the Ball, clocked up 20 Euro 2022 matches in total, covering every inch of the tournament from the fan zones, press box and pitch side. Drink in their mammoth effort on 90min’s YouTube channel here.