European champion England withstood a second-half barrage to grab a 0-0 draw with Sweden in Group A3 and qualify for Euro 2025, with the Swedes heading for the playoffs after finishing third in the pool.
England finished as runner-up in the group on 11 points, one behind winner France which slumped to a shock 3-1 defeat away to Ireland, which grabbed its first points of the campaign. The Swedes finished with eight points.
Knowing it only needed a draw to advance, England contained Sweden well in the first half but came under enormous pressure in the second.
Sweden’s Filippa Angeldahl almost scored with a thunderous late strike but keeper Hannah Hampton clawed it away to keep her clean sheet intact and see England through to next year’s finals in Switzerland.
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France, which was already through after a win over the Swedes in Dijon on Friday, went two goals behind to Ireland in Cork before pulling one back, but a 90th-minute goal form Anna Patten wrapped up victory for the host.
With the Swiss qualifying automatically as host, the top two teams in each of the four League A groups go through, with the third and fourth-placed sides going into a series of playoffs to decide who will get the remaining seven spots in the 16-team tournament.
Italy thrashed Finland 4-0 to top Group A1 on nine points with Netherlands, which drew 1-1 away to Norway in Bergen, also going through automatically.
In Group A2 Spain and Denmark had already secured direct qualification, with the Spaniards closing out the campaign with a 2-0 win over Belgium, while the Danes defeated the Czech Republic by the same scoreline.
Germany won Group A4 with 15 points form its six matches, but its 4-0 win over Austria was tainted by an injury to midfielder Lena Oberdorf. Iceland took second place, two points behind Germany thanks to a 1-0 win away to Poland.
