Have Portugal women hit a brick wall? UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 preview | OneFootball

The Portuguese national football team in the men’s game has made headlines as one of the strongest countries in the world in recent decades thanks to steady and sustained progress throughout the 21st century.

The women’s game in Portugal has also been developing well, but after a series of firsts – the first Euro, the first World Cup, the first successive qualifications for major tournaments – recent results suggest the team led by Francisco Neto may have stagnated, or worse still, perhaps even taken a step backwards.

The UEFA Women’s EURO 2025, which begins tomorrow in Switzerland, will be a good barometer to see exactly where Portugal women stand right now.

Three-way fight to join Spain

The Seleção are in Group B alongside world champions Spain, and Belgium and Italy.

With the Spanish one of the main favourites to win the tournament, it will be a three-way battle to finish second and qualify for the knockout rounds.

Portugal will have to improve drastically in relation to recent performances to have a chance. Chastening defeats in each of the last three matches of the Nations League campaign – 7-1 away to Spain, 6-0 in England and 3-0 at home to Belgium – have put pressure on Neto for the first time in his long tenure as head coach of Portugal women.

“The future of a coach is always on the line,” said Neto when asked for his thoughts about his job security. “If people want to make an assessment in the short term it’s easy to say what may be at risk, because the most recent image is what people remember.

“If we want to assess the whole process over the last eleven years on the other hand, things are much brighter for me. But above all I’m very proud of what we have been doing as a group. I’m just one part of this giant wheel that is women’s football in Portugal.”

Similar squad

It is not by chance that Neto talks about the collective effort almost as a family. However, it is the lack of new blood and a perceived reluctance to select players not in his tried and trusted close-knit group that has brought some harsh criticism on Neto.

The 23-woman squad he takes to Switzerland contains 17 players who were in the previous European Championship held in England.

“I believe in steadily integrating new players into the squad and using them when they are ready,” said Neto in a recent interview.

To be fair to the 43-year-old, the poor run of results in April, May and June came after a superb sequence of 14 matches unbeaten.

Kika Nazareth fitness doubts

What’s more, for those matches Portugal were without star player Kika Nazareth, who tore her left ankle ligaments and has been out of action for most of 2025. Nazareth is back in the squad but has not played a competitive game for months and will surely be somewhere below her best.

Portugal play their first match against Spain on Thursday (3 July), followed by encounters against Italy (7 July) and Belgium (11 July).

“If we manage to get to the third game depending only on ourselves, I have no doubt we will qualify from the group phase,” said Neto.

Portugal women’s squad for Euro 2025