The upcoming UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, taking place from 2-27 July in Switzerland, was on the agenda at last week’s Football Summit, sponsored by EVS, with a panel exploring how the tournament will be produced and how broadcast and media are helping elevate the women’s game.
Excitement is particularly high in the UK this year, given that England are defending champions and Wales have qualified for the first time.
Phil Bigwood, executive producer, BBC Sport, said: “I’ve been fortunate to do this job for a long while, looking after women’s and men’s major tournaments, and this was the first time England actually won anything. So going into this one, it’s a case of we’ve got record audiences, participation among girls playing football is up, so we’ve got to up our game.”
Plans for the BBC include a women in sport series, kicking off with the FA Cup Final on 18 May and continuing through to the Women’s World Cup in the autumn.
“There’s a whole strategy of programming planned, and the Euros in the summer is the major focal point of that. It’s a critical piece in the jigsaw,” he added. “And then with Wales coming into it as well, and S4C for the Welsh language, for the BBC as a whole, it’s a vital event for us.”
The BBC is sharing rights with ITV – the first time this has happened on a women’s event – and conversations between the two broadcasters have already begun, particularly around sharing resources.
Bigwood said: “There’s a lot of work going on at production management level in terms of regulations in Switzerland, logistics, what we can share across the board, because with the picks process we’ve got 16 live picks each, with the final shared. So for the knockouts, we don’t actually know what games we’ve got until a couple of days beforehand, so that’s where we’ll be having conversations with them around what can we share, what can we do technically?”
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While previous tournaments have seen significant levels of shared facilities across stadiums and IBCs, this event will be somewhat different but again there are conversations ongoing.
Bigwood added: “ITV will be in London and we’ll be in Salford, so it is different and it’s more limited. But those conversations are still going on, and we’re looking to share as much as possible.”
Sunset+Vine has been appointed production partner for the Euros and the team will be embedded alongside the BBC in Salford. For Bigwood this is of key importance.
“S+V are going to be embedded in Salford alongside our digital teams, audio teams, the website and everything else. That was a key part, because S+V are responsible for delivering the linear TV aspect of it and we’ve obviously still got wider teams, and there’s so much crossover, so that was a crucial thing for us.”
Sarah Bucknall, head of production, Sunset+Vine, went on to share facilities plan for the tournament. “The production gallery will be in Salford, in Quay House. Timeline will be our facilities providers. We’ll be doing on site pres for various matches, but with feeds being sent back to Salford, with the whole production team back there. We’ll have on site commentary for more matches than we originally thought. With such a huge pool of BBC on screen talent in the country fulfilling radio and other obligations, we will utilise them on the ground as much as possible as well.
“Commentary will be a mix of both on site, then sending commentary back over IP, internet feeds and other matches done from Salford. So really, going where the on-screen talent and the commentators will be to get the best out of them.”
When the team is on site, host coverage will be supplemented with a camera capturing bespoke images for the home nation and to supplement the production, while pitchside positions with relevant guests will also be utilised.
Sustainability is also high on the agenda for the production with the team travelling to Switzerland via train rather than flying. The aim is also to bring the sustainability message into the coverage itself.
“It’s a challenge, and we’re not looking to preach to anybody, but it’s on all of our producers’ minds across all of our sports coverage,” said Grant Philips, Sunset+Vine, executive producer.
Bucknall added: “Switzerland is a beautiful country, think outside and outdoor living, and it’s promoting that and keeping it part of the conversation. It’s not doom and gloom, but it’s showing the natural world, just keeping it in the conversation and at the forefront of things. And we’ll attempt to do that from the first frame of our titles. Part of our promotion is to celebrate Switzerland and all its outdoor life.”
The new virtual studio will also play a role in promoting the beauty of Switzerland.
Philips explained: “Obviously we’re in Switzerland, and we’re trying to give everybody that feeling that we’re immersed in the country and all its glory. So I must say, the studio was a big part of our pitch to the BBC. It’s brilliant. It’s absolutely amazing. The job that these guys can do is beyond me. But editorially, there’s been a lot of discussion around how we can not only present the programmes with our guests, but also deal with analysis and various things like that. The BBC have got a lot of experience with such matters, so we can tap into that as much as we can.”
