Finally we have found out how the groups are going to look for the upcoming Women's Euro 2022 competition being held in England next year. There will be 16 teams playing in 31 match across the 9 host cities for the competition. What I am impressed with is how the North of the country is hosting plenty of games throughout the tournament, I honestly thought that 90% of the games would have been down south but they have really made it so the competition is accessible to everyone. 

The women's game is growing here in the UK and I think that this competition is only going to help it grow and hopefully inspire a whole new generation of players for the future. With ticket sales already exceeding expectations before the groups were even announced it is safe to say that there is plenty of interest in the tournament and we could be expecting huge crowds at each game which is hopefully going to be full of kids and adults alike who could be witnessing their first international women's game, so who knows just how the growth of the women's game is going to go after the competition, fingers crossed it just grows and grows. With the men's world cup being pushed to the end of the year the summer of 2022 is really the chance for the women's game to take center stage and shine, all eyes will hopefully be on this competition and if the media plays it right I think there could easily be a record number of viewers. 

For me the Euros are a tougher competition in the women's game than the World Cup as it is a much more level playing field. The competition is a whole lot tighter and groups don't have clear cut winners meaning every game is going to be an interesting one and anyone could walk away group winners and I think we could see a few upsets along the way. So here is how the groups are looking...

Group A 

England 

Austria 

Norway 

Northern Ireland

I am really looking forward to this group and we will be at the opening game of England vs Austria. I think the best game of the group though will be England vs Northern Ireland, which is the closing game of the group. I think this group is going to be an interesting one with all to play for. 

Group B 

Germany 

Denmark 

Spain 

Finland 

Group B is bound to be a good one with some fantastic players taking center stage. Spain did well in the 2019 World Cup so I am really looking forward to see how they do against the rest of this group. I think this could be a group that goes down to the final game but I know it is going to be a group I keep a very close eye on. 

Group C

Netherlands 

Sweden 

Russia 

Switzerland

Now group C is another group I am going to be keeping a very close eye on and hopefully we are going to get tickets to the group opener for this one. The Netherlands are the defending champions and it is going to be interesting to see how they do in their first competition under a new manager. It is going to be interesting to see how Sweden do as they just seem to be going from strength to strength. 

Group D 

France 

Italy 

Belgium 

Iceland

The final group is going to be an interesting one with France in there however, I think in recent years they have declined a bit as other teams have caught them up. I think Belgium could easily be a dark horse in this group and the ones to watch, I think they have the potential to create a few upsets in the competition. I think this is one of the groups I am most looking forward to. 

Nearer the competition starting I will be doing a full group stage prediction post, but today's post was just a quick look at how the draw went. Over the course of 2022 and as the tournament progresses there will be a whole lot more Euro 2022 content on the blog and on our social media. 

We have our tickets for the big games and we are hoping to get to another group stage game too and it is safe to say we are really looking forward to this tournament and seeing how it progresses. I think us fans are really going to be in for a treat.