Italy, Belgium and Iceland for Les Bleues

Named in Group D following the draw on Thursday, the French women's team learned that they will now be up against Italy, Belgium and Iceland in the group stage of Euro 2022 (July 6th - 31st).

The draw for the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 competition was made on Thursday in Manchester, attended by representatives of the sixteen teams qualified for the finals, which will take place from July 6th to 31st in England.

In Group D, Corinne Diacre's team have been joined by Italy, quarter-finalists in the 2019 World Cup, Belgium, and Iceland, who they faced previously at Euro 2017. They will kick off the competition against Italy on Saturday 10th July, followed by games on Thursday 14th and Monday 18th against Belgium and Iceland respectively. All three meetings will take place at the New York Stadium in Rotherham.

 The Draw 

GROUP A: England, Austria, Norway and Northern Ireland
GROUP B: Germany, Denmark, Spain and Finland
GROUP C: Netherlands, Sweden, Russia and Switzerland
GROUP D: France, Italy, Belgium and Iceland

 The Coach's Reaction: 
Diacre: “We have to win these first three matches”

Corinne Diacre (coach of the French women's team): "We now know who our future opponents are and this will allow us to approach things correctly. If we want to finish top of our group, there is no alternative: we have to win the first three matches, and the other teams will have the same intention” “These will be tough matches and anything can happen. It is up to us to observe them properly, prepare ourselves well and to be the strongest side we can be. At the moment, our
preparation is punctuated by the qualifiers for the 2023 World Cup. We leave camp, and after three weeks we go back. Today, it was the draw, we were focused on the Euros, but we will quickly switch focus back to our next two matches, namely Kazakhstan and Wales”. “The Euros are both close because we are in Manchester tonight for the draw, but, at the same time, far away because we are focused on qualifying for the World Cup. Ending the curse of the quarter-finals? We are ambitious at every competition. At the last World Cup, we played against the world champions and we competed well. This obstacle of the quarters, it is necessary that we put it to one side. Our goal is to progress to at least the final. We will do everything within our means to get there”.

 Key figures: 

 7  - Les Bleues will take part in the 7th European Championship in their history after appearances in 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2017. They have reached the quarter-finals in their last three appearances.
 13   - Italy has not missed any European Championships since their inception, this will be their 13th, far ahead of Iceland (5th) and Belgium (2nd).
 14  - Italy’s position in the FIFA rankings, ahead of Iceland (16th) and Belgium (19th) but behind France (5th).
 31  - 31 Matches will feature the 16 qualified teams from July 6th to 31st in England.