From Basel to Blighty: The Lionesses have brought more than just football home

As cowboy hats adorned with the St. George’s cross dispersed to the many airports across Switzerland—Zurich, Basel, and even Geneva - they passed through cities already conquered by England on their way home. And, for the first time ever, the European trophy flew alongside them over the English Channel to arrive home as the Lionesses became the first England team to win the accolade on foreign soil.

On the mall on Tuesday, those cowboy hats and three lions shirts will come together once more as thousands flock to welcome football home again, if it ever really left. While it was a movement begun decades ago as pioneering women fought the battle to even play the sport, it was one that built momentum during the summer of 2022.

From Old Trafford to Wembley, taking in the likes of Rotherham and Milton Keynes along the way, the Lionesses swept up a generation of new fans. When Chloe Kelly struck that extra-time winner to win England women’s first major trophy, she had not just brought football home but created a place of belonging for the thousands discovering a new home in women’s football.

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Three years later, those fans were inspired to travel in their numbers to Europe’s most expensive city to witness scenes in Switzerland that were nothing short of priceless. But unlike 2022, Skinner and Baddiel’s ‘it’s coming home’ chant did not ring through the streets of Zurich and Basel in the way they had soundtracked the preceding victory.

In a third major tournament final in four years, there was simply no need to end years of hurt, for the Lionesses were only continuing a legacy of success. And though it was not pretty, with all three knockout games going to extra time and the final in Basel won on penalties, what was beautiful was the volume of travelling support lining the streets on the way to St. Jakob Park.

If any example was ever needed of just how far women’s football has come, the endless mass of red and white that made the 60-minute walk from the English fanzone to the stadium in Basel was testament enough. In either direction a snaking ensemble of fans marched to St. Jakob Park with neither the start nor end of the crowds visible, and while they were drenched during a Swiss rainstorm, they continued in ‘proper English’ fashion with the same drive that moves the game itself forward.

“[I hope the legacy can be] the consistency of the girls. The landscape keeps changing and we’re trying to change with it,” said captain Leah Williamson before the game. “That’s a really hard thing to do and the investment and the quality of the game in England is continuing to rise.

“You don’t want to just be a flash in the pan and a memory. When we spoke prior to 2022 we said it was the start of something and we’re still trying to play our role in that.

“So being here and being on this stage, we know how powerful that is. I hope it just continues and continues to grow and the respect for the women’s game and women in general, we can try our best to continue to elevate that.”

And, as Alessia Russo bagged the equaliser, Hannah Hampton produced two pivotal penalty saves, and Chloe Kelly struck home the winning spot-kick, the roars of the England majority crowd proved testament to exactly those words.

The Lionesses had stepped into the brightest spotlight and once more delivered to show exactly what was possible with adequate support.

If 2022 had been to inspire new fans, travelling to Switzerland to create further history and a legacy of success was for all the women and girls who had tried and been told, ‘Girls don’t play football.’

In creating firsts, in going where the men have never gone, the Lionesses healed a different kind of hurt.

Not one of lacking success but one of exclusion and inequality. In winning on foreign soil, England women have something of their own to bring home and share with a nation of women and girls and everyone else who they inspire.

Once more, in bringing football back to these shores, the Lionesses have created a home for those who were once told they do not belong.