euros preview: group c

The EUROS are nearly here so here’s a quick preview of every group. I’ll start each with a brief group overview before doing some team-by-team synopsis. We all know the big name talents, but one of the most fun parts of international tournaments are non/not yet- star talents causing a bit of ruckus. So I’m also attempting to pick out a player from every team to be excited about when they get on the pitch.

group c overview

Denmark | Germany | Poland | Sweden

This group could be low key saucy. Germany and Sweden are obviously the big name teams with presumably the clearest path to the knockouts. But Denmark and Poland are capable of a (shock?) result against either, which would make things a bit fun. My tendency is to still be boring and expect the group to go chalk, but I really would like to see a step forward, particularly from Denmark.

• FIFA Rank: #12

• Latest results

  • Sweden 6-1 Denmark

  • Denmark 1-0 Wales

  • Denmark 0-3 Italy

expectations

Denmark are one of those teams with lots of familiar names of players we know can ball, but rarely come together to perform as a national team. Diet Norway, if you will. Though with Denmark the problems with cohesion are a little more clear. Scrolling through the squad you’ll see that lots of players are either 25 and younger or 29 and older, and rarely any in their prime ages of experience + peak physical capabilities.

Still, Denmark have too much talent to be getting mollywhopped by Sweden and shellacked by Italy. If that Denmark keeps showing up, this group will get real predictable real quickly.

player to watch

Cornelia Kramer
Forward
Bayer Leverkusen

This past season the 22-year-old Kramer stepped from the Danish top flight into the Frauen Bundesliga and helped Bayer Leverkusen finish 4th with 12 goals and 2 assists in 22 appearances (21 starts). For a hot minute Leverkusen were tied at the top of the table with Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg, and Eintracht Frankfurt.

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Kramer’s 8.8 non-penalty xG plus 3.8 xA (expected assisted goals) were good enough to cement her into the top-10 in the Frauen Bundesliga for the 24/25 season, tied with Alex Popp. Not too shabby for a player in her debut season in the league.

• FIFA Rank: #3

• Latest results

  • Austria 0-6 Germany

  • Germany 4-0 Netherlands

  • Germany 6-1 Scotland

expectations

Germany made it all the way to the final of the last EUROS, but they might find it a lot harder to get back there this time. Primarily because the best defensive midfielder in the world, Lena Oberdorf, is still recovering from last year’s ACL tear and deemed not fit enough for the rigors of an international tournament.

After not making it out of the group stage in the 2023 World Cup, Germany yeeted their coach then walked around in the wilderness a bit. Eventually they found a permanent coach who started putting their very talented pieces together and they’ve cooked ever since. You have to go back to December of 2024 for not only their last loss, but also the last time they didn’t score at least two goals in a match.

This shouldn’t be a tricky group for Germany to get out of, but their real test will come in the later rounds, where missing a stalwart defensive midfielder could grind their tournament to a halt.

player to watch

Selina Cerci
Forward
Hoffenheim

Germany have a class of well-known attacking talents. From Jule Brand and Klara Bühl to Lea Schüller and Laura Freigang(gang gang), but none of them scored more goals in the Frauen Bundesliga this season than Selina Cerci.

She dropped 16 goals (and added three assists) for Hoffenheim, who finished 6th in the league. Outside of Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt, Hoffenheim were the highest scorers in the league and Cerci’s goals and assists accounted for over 38% of their goal output. Her numbers weren’t the result of overperforming her xG either, Cerci was fourth in non-penalty xG (10.5), only behind Pernille Harder, Laura Freigang, and golden boot winner Lineth Beerensteyn.

• FIFA Rank: #27

• Latest results

  • Poland 4-0 Ukraine

  • Poland 3-0 Romania

  • N. Ireland 0-4 Poland

expectations

Weirdly, Poland hasn’t lost in their last eight international matches. That’s a bit of an illusion, since most of those games were against Northern Ireland, Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. No disrespect, but none of those teams made it to the EUROS. The last team they faced who will be in the competition is host country Switzerland, who beat Poland 4-1 (though Poland returned the favor by beating them 1-0 four days later).

If every other team in the group hoops close to their potential Poland will find it hard to grab any points at all. Their best shot will come against Denmark, but that will be their final match of the group stage. They’ll need to pull off something unexpected against Germany or Sweden for that game to matter beyond pride.

player to watch

Natalia Padilla-Bidas
Forward
Bayern Munich (Sevilla on loan)

Natalia’s per 90 non-penalty xG was good enough to be 18th in Liga F this season. Better yet, that’s 11th best in the non-Barca division, narrowly topping Linda Caicedo.

I’m not sure how much time Poland will spend in the attacking third, but when they get the ball there they’d do well to find Padilla-Bidas. In Liga F last season, she was 16th (14th non-Barca division) in carries into the penalty area last season.

• FIFA Rank: #6

• Latest results

  • Norway 0-2 Sweden

  • Sweden 6-1 Denmark

  • Italy 0-0 Sweden

expectations

Sweden are an oddly constructed team at the moment. They have a solid defensive unit of names we’ve all been hearing for a while, plus newcomers like 22-year-old Hanna Lundkvist (ball progression extraordinaire for San Diego Wave) and 18-year-old Smilla Holmberg. In midfield it’s the same story, with 22-year-old Hanna Bennison as the only player in the group under 27. This formula is repeated in the forward group.

I don’t expect their approach to be much different than it was throughout the 2023 World Cup, where they were Set Piece FC and had center back Amanda Ilestedt leading the golden boot race for a while. Scoring on Sweden will be hard, but at some point—as was the case at the World Cup—they’ll have to create from open play.

player to watch

Ellen Wangerheim
Forward
Hammarby

Twenty-year-old Ellen Wangerheim is the only forward on the team under 27. While she may never be in charge of the music in the locker room, she could play an important role in adding a new dimension to Sweden’s attack.

Unfortunately FBref only has basic data from the Damallsvenskan, so I can’t dive too deep into her production. All I know is that Hammarby are good at producing young talents (this is a reason Chelsea loaned Maika Hamano to the club) and in the last two seasons Wangerheim dropped 23 goals and 5 assists in 36 appearances (29 starts).

After five seasons at Hammarby it appears she could be moving on to a Champions League contender, so keep an eye on this one when she steps on the pitch.