Elise Hughes is sole North Walian in Cymru squad announced for UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 finals
PODUJEVO, WALES - 09 APRIL 2024: Wales' Elise Hughes scores goal number 6 and celebrates during the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 qualifier League B match between Kosovo Women and Wales Women at the Zahir Pajaziti Stadium in Podujevo on the 9th of April 2024. (Pic by Ashley Crowden/FAW)
Crystal Palace striker Elise Hughes is the only North Walian in Rhian Wilkinson’s 23-player Cymru squad for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 finals in Switzerland.
Hughes, 24, from Hawarden, has won 29 full caps for her country and returned to action in March after a long lay-off with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.
The squad for the Euros was announced this morning by Cymru women’s teams manager Wilkinson on the top of the Wyddfa, Wales’ highest summit.
Unfortunately, it did not include Manchester City defender Mayzee Davies from Flint, who was a strong contender for selection, but was ruled out after suffering a rupture to her ACl when falling awkwardly just four minutes into Wales’ Nations League defeat in Denmark this month.
The 18-year-old, who was winning her sixth senior cap in Odense having made her debut in Kosovo in April 2024, is now on the recovery road.
Next month’s finals will see Cymru face the winners of the last two EURO tournaments in England (2022) and the Netherlands (2017), as well as France who reached the semi-finals in 2017. The two top placed sides in the group will then progress to the quarter final stage.
Wilkinson’s side will begin the tournament in Lucerne against the Netherlands on Saturday 5 July (KO 5pm BST), before travelling to St. Gallen to face France (8pm BST Wednesday 9 July) and England 8pm BST Sunday 13 July). More than 2,000 Welsh fans will be in the Red Wall for each match, with Cymru due to be one of the best supported sides in Switzerland in terms of attendance.
Cymru will meet and depart from Cardiff on Sunday 22 June for a week-long training camp in Portugal to prepare for the tournament. They will then arrive in Switzerland on Sunday 29 June where the team will be based in Lipperswil and Weinfelden in the canton of Thurgau.
SQUAD
Olivia CLARK (Leicester City)
Safia MIDDLETON-PATEL (Manchester United)
Poppy SOPER (Unattached)
Charlie ESTCOURT (DC Power)
Gemma EVANS (Liverpool)
Josie GREEN (Crystal Palace)
Hayley LADD (Everton)
Esther MORGAN (Sheffield United)
Ella POWELL (Bristol City)
Rhiannon ROBERTS (Unattached)
Lily WOODHAM (Seattle Reign)
Jess FISHLOCK (Seattle Reign)
Alice GRIFFITHS (Unattached)
Ceri HOLLAND (Liverpool)
Sophie INGLE (Unattached)
Angharad JAMES (Seattle Reign)
Lois JOEL (Newcastle United)
Rachel ROWE (Southampton)
Kayleigh BARTON (Unattached)
Hannah CAIN (Leicester City)
Elise HUGHES (Crystal Palace)
Carrie JONES (IFK Norrköping)
Ffion MORGAN (Bristol City).
