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If you were ever in any doubt about the importance of the England women’s national football team making it into the final of the UEFA Women’s Euros, the news that pubs have been allowed to stay open until 1 am on Sunday – when England face Spain – should settle it for you. The UK government has relaxed licensing laws for the match, declaring this a moment of ‘exceptional national significance’.
To my 11-year-old daughter – who trains with a squad for promising youth players and has talked of becoming a Lioness since she was three years old – this all feels completely normal. She can’t conceive of a world in which women don’t play football. But for those of us who grew up in a different era, this feels like a watershed; a moment not just for football or even sport, but for women.
Sports broadcaster and former England hockey player Katie Shanahan is the dedicated Lioness Reporter covering the Women’s Euros for ITV. The England v Italy match was the most-watched ITV broadcast of 2025 so far, and the tournament itself has broken records as the highest attended Women’s Euros ever, with over 600,000 fans in the stands. Katie spoke exclusively to woman&home from the team’s basecamp in Zürich, and reflected on what it’s like to have been pitch-side with the Lionesses throughout this historic tournament.
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“For years, women were banned from playing, so we lost all this enjoyment of the game,” Katie says. “Even a few tournaments ago, we weren’t selling out stadiums or reaching millions on TV. Imagine saying to the former Lionesses of 20 or 30 years ago that one day, a women’s international semi-final would be watched by millions on TV, or that pubs would stay open late because of women’s football. It’s literally what dreams are made of.”
The Football Association banned women’s football from its grounds in 1921, declaring it ‘unsuitable for females’ – a ban that lasted for 51 years. In 2005, when England played their opening match in the UEFA Women’s Euros, fewer than 1,000 fans turned out to support them. Contrast that with this year’s tournament, which saw more than 20,000 fans fill Stadion Letzigrund in Zürich for the Lionesses’ matches against France and the Netherlands. Katie has been reporting live for ITV throughout the tournament, and the semi-final pulled in more than 10.2 million UK viewers.
Katie, who played hockey for England at the highest level for five years, knows the thrill of playing on the international stage as a sportswoman. She admits to missing her hockey career, but says witnessing the shift that the Lionesses are bringing to the sporting landscape – and sharing it live with the nation – is the next best thing. She feels a responsibility not just to “get the answers the nation wants” after each match, but also to tell the broader story behind the Lionesses’ performance and achievements.
“I also feel it’s my role to tell their stories in the best possible way – to get the best out of them and to deliver the best coverage,” she says. “I think we owe it to the women’s game. It’s going from strength to strength, and I feel very responsible to keep growing and taking it to new heights,” she says.
It’s a weighty responsibility because for girls like my daughter, the Lionesses represent tangible proof that they can be anything. For women of my generation, meanwhile, their self-belief is nothing short of awe-inspiring. “Take Michelle Agyemang – less than four years ago, she was a ball girl, watching from the sidelines during Sarina Wiegman’s first game in charge of England,” Katie says. “Now she’s helping put them into a major tournament final. She told me she only needs 10 seconds to change a game, and she’s proved it.”
During this tournament, the Lionesses’ off-pitch lives have made headlines too, helping shine a light on the broader story of their achievements and how much they represent for women. Personal details, from their daily routines to pre-match rituals – Chloe Kelly’s shin pads featuring photos of her husband and their two dogs are carefully laid out in the “pristine” dressing room before each match, Katie tells us – help make these athletes even more relatable for young women like my daughter. (She sat in on my interview with Katie, and when she asked her what the Lionesses eat for breakfast – lots of eggs and plenty of protein if you’re curious – I realised just how different her world is from the one I grew up in. We didn’t talk about female footballers, never mind think to ask them for nutrition tips.)
“Michelle Agyemang has brought out a piano… she plays piano every single day to relax. They brought their own barista, and he’s got a dog, so they call him the coffee dog,” she adds. “And I’ve got to tell you – the dressing room playlist is amazing. They’ve got Vindaloo, Sweet Caroline, they’ve just got everything. I need this playlist, it’s so so good. Then they come out of the dressing room, and they’re high-fiving each other until the tunnel when they go quiet – so composed and calm.”
The post-match atmosphere is a different story: “After the Italy game, there was an absolute party going on in the dressing room. They were singing and banging the desk, Freed From Desire was blasting out, and I’m trying to talk to Sarina. I’m like, can you tell them to stop?”
Recently, Katie has looked back at interviews with former England players and been reminded of what they went through – “all the sexism and misogyny” – to pave the way for today’s Lionesses. “Journalists used to ask players, ‘What does your husband do?’ and ‘Who’s looking after the children?'” Katie explains. “I think that’s a real testament, not only to the former Lionesses and their resilience and perseverance to continue growing the game, but also to the Lionesses of today to maintain that legacy.”
(Image credit: Getty Images (Photo by Naomi Baker – The FA/The FA via Getty Images))
The current Lionesses’ journey hasn’t been without pain, either. Defender Jess Carter faced racial abuse during the tournament, but in a statement issued to “send a message to the world”, Sarina Wiegman condemned the online abuse as “ridiculous and disgusting” and highlighted how the squad had come together in unity and support for their teammate.
“Georgia Stanway told me they’re exposing their vulnerabilities in this tournament – not only on the pitch, but off it as well,” Katie adds. “We’re seeing that in those huge moments where they have to dig really deep and find belief from somewhere – in the last kick of the game, or during penalties. And we’re also seeing it off the pitch with Jess going through something no player should ever have to experience – just abhorrent behaviour. But I think that France game, that moment of adversity, really brought them together.”
Women’s football in the UK has seen exponential growth in recent years, from record-breaking match attendances to increased investment in youth development and professional leagues. While there’s still more work to do before the women’s game is seen on an equal footing as the men’s, Katie feels this tournament’s coverage has begun to reflect the quality of play on the pitch. With that, she believes, comes a responsibility to apply the same interview standards to male and female players. “If we want true equality, we have to analyse the game the same way we do for men,” Katie explains. “I always think: ‘Is this fair? How would I ask Harry Kane this?’ We need the same criticism and quality analysis we see in the men’s game.”
As the tournament comes to a close – Katie’s fifth with the Lionesses – she reflects on what it has meant to witness history being made in this way – as so many women have found themselves doing while watching England play. “I know the girls well, Serena and I have a wonderful relationship, and I feel like I’m on this journey with them, which brings me back to what I miss about playing hockey – the team bond, the energy, the buzz,” she says. “But this is the next best thing. It’s an amazing time. These players inspire me to want to go home and put some of that inspiration into my own life.” That’s a sentiment many of us share.
If England wins on Sunday, it will be another history-making moment for the Lionesses. But for many who will be tuning in, Sunday is so much more than the final of an international football tournament. It’s not just about greater visibility for women in sport, or even pubs staying open in recognition that the women’s game constitutes a moment of exceptional national significance. It’s about reclaiming spaces that we should never have been shut out of.
“If they were to win back-to-back Euros and do something that no England team, male or female, has ever done – win overseas at a major tournament – just think what that would do for the game,” Katie agrees.
Then, she believes, we can start making up for those 51 years of lost time.
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