Why have there been so many missed penalties at Euro 2025? | OneFootball

Just what is going on with penalties at Euro 2025?

Ahead of the semi-final stage, only 24 of the 41 penalties taken at the tournament had been scored, including just five of the 14 in England’s “ridiculous” shoot-out victory over Sweden.

The quarter-finals were chaotic from beginning to end. Norway striker and former Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg missed the target completely in her country’s defeat to Italy, the second time she had missed a penalty at the tournament.

England and Sweden’s penalty shoot-out featured the lowest conversation rate in Women’s Euro history, with just 36 per cent scored, as the Lionesses survived to reach the semi-finals.

The following night, Spain missed two penalties in their 2-0 victory over Switzerland, with Mariona Caldentey and Alexia Putellas both failing to score from the spot in what was ultimately a comfortable victory for the world champions.

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Mariona Caldentey reacts after missing a penalty for Spain (REUTERS)

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Hegerberg missed both penalties she took at Euro 2025 (Getty Images)

And there was further drama in the last quarter-final between France and Germany. Sjoeke Nusken missed the chance to send 10-player Germany through in normal time before goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger starred in the shoot-out, saving two penalties and scoring herself

Before the Germany’s 6-5 win on penalties, the conversion rate at Euro 2025 had fallen under 50 per cent.

But while England and Sweden’s penalties attracted criticism and some ridicule on social media, both goalkeepers played their part: Hannah Hampton made two saves, including to keep England in the tournament, while Jennifer Falk saved four kicks, but, bizarrely, also blazed her penalty over the bar when she had the chance to send Sweden into the semi-finals.

“I think both keepers made a few incredible saves a piece in that shoot-out,” England defender Esme Morgan said. “The word I would just use is ridiculous. I've never seen anything like it before, and I was thinking, goodness me, what is going on, but thankfully it turned in our favour.”

Penalty conversation rates tend to be lower during shoot-outs at major international tournaments, where the pressure is extreme. Some studies have shown that average conversion rates in penalty shoot-outs is around 75 to 80 percent, with similar results for men and women.

The three penalty shoot-outs at the 2023 Women’s World Cup all saw conversion rates of between 64 and 66.6 per cent. Nine of 14 penalties were scored during the last-16 match between Sweden and USA, 13 of 20 were scored between Australia and France and six of nine were scored between England and Nigeria.

And while the conversion rate during the England-Sweden was historically low, there was a marked improved two nights later when Germany faced France in Basel. 11 of the 14 penalties were scored, at a rate of 79 per cent.

The France-Germany shoot-out was notable for goalkeeper Berger scoring her country’s fifth penalty, as well as saving two. The 34-year-old is renowned as a penalty expert, having also won important shoot-outs for Chelsea against Lyon in the 2023 Women’s Champions League and for Germany against Canada in the 2024 Olympic quarter-finals. Berger also scored Germany’s decisive kick at the Olympics.

Berger guessed correctly to save from Amel Majri and Alice Somboth and images of Berger’s water bottle showed that it featured a cheat-sheet of France’s likely penalty takers and their past record from 12 yards. Berger dived to her left to save both penalties, which is exactly where Majri and Somboth were predicted to aim.

England goalkeeper Hampton also had access to a similar cheat-sheet before facing Sweden, which is a sign of how opposition analysis and data collection has grown more sophisticated.

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Germany’s Ann-Katrin Berger with a ‘cheat-sheet’ of French penalty takers during the quarter-final (Getty Images)

‘No-one defines a career by those misses’

The past two campaigns in both the Premier League and Women’s Super League in England indicate that, while success from the spot may vary between seasons, conversation rates between men and women are similar when the first-choice taker stands over the ball during a regulation match.

In the Women’s Super League last season, 28 penalties were scored out of the 31 awarded, a conversion rate of just over 90 per cent. In the season before, 18 out of 23 were scored (78.2 per cent).

The Premier League saw a record 93 out of 104 penalties scored during the 2023-24 season, at a conversation rate of 89 per cent. In the following season, 68 penalties were scored from 82 attempts (83 per cent).

England had practised their penalties before the Sweden quarter-final, with Beth Mead expressing frustration that some players couldn’t deliver on the day. The exceptions were Alessia Russo, Chloe Kelly and Lucy Bronze, who scored her first penalty for England by going straight down the middle.

“I think we're all frustrated in the sense that we had our system, we've practised them every day, we've got our routines, and sometimes it doesn't go to plan,” said Mead after she missed England’s third penalty. “I'm just happy we're on the good side of it today.”

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Hannah Hampton helped England win a penalty shootout to reach Euro 2025 semi-finals (REUTERS)

“We practised penalties a lot in the lead up to the tournament, maybe it was just one of those crazy days, something in the air,” Morgan said. “But I'm sure we'll continue to practice and make sure we're prepared should that situation arise again.”

Of all the penalties that have been missed at Euro 2025, it should be noted that three have come against the host nation Switzerland. Hegerberg missed her first penalty in the opening game in Basel, with Caldentey and Putellas also failing to convert against the hostile home fans in Bern. There have been more misses as the tournament has progressed, with players becoming more aware that others have been struggling.

There was also the strange sight of Sweden’s goalkeeper stepping up to take their decisive fifth penalty of the shoot-out, with head coach Peter Gerhardsson later confirming that the players had wanted the decision to be taken out of their hands and had asked the coaching staff to draw up a list of penalty takers, from one to 11.

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Falk sent her penalty over the crossbar (Getty Images)

While that was a surprising decision, which certainly shocked England’s Hampton, the reality of a penalty shoot-out is someone has to miss. Against England, it was the unfortunate 18-year-old Smilla Holmberg who missed Sweden’s decisive effort.

By the next morning Holmberg had received a text from Sweden football legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic, with Holmberg’s father revealing that Ibrahimovic told her to keep believing in herself and to take the next one.

"She is strong and she has received a lot of support from both the team, supporters, friends and relatives, she even got a text message from Zlatan here this morning," Holmberg's father Ola Persson told Swedish radio.

"The most important thing is that no-one defines a career by those misses.”