Sarina Wiegman is looking for a 'new England' ahead of Euro 2025 France opener

The Lionesses’ victory at Euro 2022 just about changed the world, or at least the country, but now they are looking for a ‘New England’.

For Sarina Wiegman and co, Saturday’s match against France does not represent the first step towards the defence of their European Championship crown but rather the first test of a new group, with new ideas.

It is the only way they see fit to keep up with the ever-quickening development of a game that even three years ago looked unrecognisable.

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And in Zurich, where the doors open before the train even stops, there is simply no time to look backwards if England want to keep abreast with the competition.

“We absolutely cherish what we have done before and we never forget it. Those are lifetime experiences for us, for our families and also for our friends but you have to move on,” said Wiegman.

“You have to be on top. Things are changing very quickly, things are developing very quickly so we have to, too.

“We came together in February and said it’s a new challenge. The approach was there anyway but we called it a ‘New England’.”

There are things that have remained the same, of course. Wiegman remains at the helm while 13 of the 23-player squad that won in 2022 travel to Switzerland.

But the ‘New England’ title is not a complete misnomer intended only for psychological distance.

The retirement of Mary Earps and Fran Kirby just prior to the squad announcement, as well as the decision of Millie Bright to withdraw from selection, took three starters from their Euros win out of contention immediately.

Rachel Daly, Ellen White and Jill Scott have also all retired in the three years since.

And perhaps, even more significantly for the side who lost the World Cup final in Australia in 2023, they will have to compete away from home soil in these Championships.

“It’s new territory. We’re not necessarily looking at it as a defence but a new challenge and a new opportunity to do something new,” said captain Leah Williamson.

“We take any challenge that comes our way and focus on the day-to-day but that’s always a dream, every team has a dream just not everyone commits to it.”

But if England remained in any doubt about the challenge that lay ahead in their commitment to such a dream, Spain’s opening fixture will have left them under no illusion.

While they may distance themselves from it, there is no denying that England are defending champions and there is a reason no team has won back-to-back titles (excluding Germany’s win four years after West Germany lifted the title in 1989).

The Lionesses’ opponents from the 2023 World Cup final signalled their intent early with a 5-0 opening victory over Portugal, even without the services of their talismanic Ballon D’Or winner Aitana Bonmati.

Replicating that margin of victory would be a dream start for England, but their challenge proves far tougher as they come up against a France side with new ideas of their own.

Laurent Bonadei’s decision to omit eight-times Champions League winner Wendie Renard and France’s all-time record goalscorer Eugenie Le Sommer was certainly a statement, and one which is so far paying off.

Les Bleues have not lost in their last eight matches, including coming from two goals down to beat Brazil 3-2.

Though ‘A New France’ does not have the same ring to it as Kirsty MacColl’s hit, Bonadei has certainly created a side different in nature to the predecessors who have never reached a major tournament final.

This Group D opener, then, represents a reckoning of two teams hoping their reinvention will pave a path to glory but in a group that also features contenders the Netherlands, scrutiny will instantly attach itself to the loser.

There are no such stakes for the fourth member of the group, who open their account against Oranje Leeuwinnen hours before the Lionesses.

For Wales, there is no need to reinvent themselves as their first game in their first major tournament awaits with no blueprint for what has gone before but only opportunity.

And The Dragons are not looking to follow convention, their squad announcement at the top of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) proved as much.

At home in the mountains and free from expectations, who knows what the plucky Welsh side can do against a Dutch team, whose manager has already come under fire before a ball has been kicked.