Beth Mead insists Lionesses can take heat as they arrive for Euro 2025 | OneFootball

England feel well prepared to cope with the heatwave that awaits them in Switzerland, Beth Mead has said, as the Lionesses flew to Zurich on Monday to defend their European title.

Temperatures at the squad’s base in Zurich were about 33C on the day Sarina Wiegman’s team travelled, and maximum temperatures there are expected to exceed 30C for most of the week in the run-up to the Lionesses’ opening Group D fixture against France on Saturday night.

The tournament is forecast to kick off in temperatures of about 30C on Wednesday when Iceland face Finland and Switzerland take on Norway. Mead praised the England backroom team and believes their training camp has put them in a good position to perform in the heat.

“Our staff are very good at being able to give us those extra percentages and margins,” the forward said. “It’s been quite hot in the last two weeks of training [in England] so that’s been nice. We’ve trained really hard, the intensity has been great and our recovery strategies that we’ve put in place have been really good so – fingers crossed – it’s prepared us as best as we can be for when we get there.”

The temperature reached the high 20s in Leicester on Sunday as the Lionesses ran out 7-0 winners against Jamaica at the King Power Stadium, in their final friendly before the tournament.

England had six goalscorers, including the 21-year-old Aggie Beever-Jones, and the defender Jess Carter was full of praise for her former Chelsea teammate and England’s other younger generation such as Lauren James and Grace Clinton who, like Beever-Jones, came on to good effect in the second half.

“The youngsters are refreshing; they’re not scared, they’re fearless,” Carter said. “They come in and try to express themselves. They work super hard and they’re a joy to play with.

“Having a variety of goalscorers is really important. That’s something we’ve added to our game. It just goes to show the depth we’ve got with players coming in from the bench and making such a huge impact straight away. Everyone is ready when they’re called upon.”

England and France are joined in Group D by Wales and the 2017 European champions, the Netherlands.

Header image: [Photograph: Harriet Lander/The FA/Getty Images]