It's getting late in Basel. Once again, as so often at these European Championship finals, the 90 minutes of normal time failed to deliver a result. Georgia Stanway is sitting with a broad grin on her face in St. Jakob Park, surrounded by her teammates. The newly crowned European champion is enjoying a slice of pizza. The cheering on the pitch has died down, the spotlights have long since been turned off. Here, away from the hustle and bustle, another moment of triumph is revealed: quiet, almost intimate.
Read between the lines of her Instagram story, in which she describes the past six months as ‘Rollercoaster six months, so proud’, and you’ll see a personal story. She wrote those words almost casually - no pathos, no big exclamations. Rather a sober, concise summary of a time full of ups and downs: Pain and joy, rehab days in the gym and evenings when things started building to a certain point in history. A look back at an eventful phase in the life of the two-time European champion.
A difficult start to 2025
It all began at the end of January during training at the FC Bayern Campus with a collateral ligament injury to the right knee - just as the team were getting started, shortly after the turn of the year. The diagnosis came quickly, as did the surgery. From one moment to the next, it was clear that Stanway was out of club football for the foreseeable that spring. She had hardly missed a minute up to that point and had been on the pitch almost constantly in her usual role as a playmaker and driving force. And yet, in the end, it was a season that somehow ended without her. FC Bayern won the double of league and cup for the first time. A 4-2 win in the final against Werder Bremen, a hat-trick from Lea Schüller, the emotional farewell to coach Alexander Straus. All of this took place without Stanway on the pitch. They were successes she had played a key role in shaping, but ones she could no longer enjoy on the pitch.
A summer that was not to be expected
Then came the summer. Stanway was fit in time for the European Championship - not having rushed back, but instead returning to the pitch in small increments and with caution. England reached for the next big coup with her. The objective was clear: to defend the title and win the European Championship for the second time after 2022. The field was tight and the competition had become fiercer. But Stanway, as so often, was front and centre. In a tournament that left little room for the Lionesses to shine, she became one of the constants in a team who defined themselves through battling and their compact defending. The Munich player organised her side, disrupted the opposition's game and provided cover - inconspicuous but indispensable. England had some tight scrapes: progressing in second place in the group behind France; overcoming Sweden in a penalty shoot-out in the quarter-finals after trailing 2-0; going to extra time in the semi-final against Italy. And then the final in Basel against reigning world champions Spain! Indeed, the Lionesses had looked to be down and out time and time again.
The match in Basel's St Jakob-Park was a 6pm kick-off. The sky was grey, the pitch heavy with rain. Spain dominated the first half, held onto the ball and set the rhythm. Mariona Caldentey deservedly put her side ahead. But England put up a fight. First hesitantly, then with growing determination. Chloe Kelly replaced the injured Lauren James and brought fresh energy. Her run down the wing set up Alessia Russo's equaliser. Stanway kept things tidy in the centre, slide-tackling, orchestrating proceedings, leading her team and plugging the gaps in midfield. It wasn't a performance to make headlines, but one of quiet authority. Then, in the 114th minute, came the moment she had delayed for so long: battered, exhausted and drained, she had to come off the pitch. The 26-year-old had given her all until her strength ran out. Her place in the penalty shoot-out therefore remained vacant. She watched from the touchline as Spain's nerves got the better of them: three players failed to convert.
Back-to-back European champions
England, on the other hand, took theirs quite confidently. Chloe Kelly - just like in the 2022 final - wrapped up the win: 3-1 on penalties for England, a success that could not be explained away by the game, but by their resilience. Just like the entire tournament, in fact. And as the team celebrated on the pitch, Stanway had long been part of the moment. Not as a penalty taker, but as someone without whom England would not have made it to this thriller of a final. Then it was official: the Lionesses were once again champions of Europe! For Wiegman, it was the third European Championship triumph in a row - a historic detail for the stats. For Stanway, the success was perhaps the most personal chapter in an already remarkable six months. In the course of these European Championship weeks, Stanway had once again positioned herself. Her game was not characterised by individual moments, but by the rhythm she set.
At a time when visibility is often confused with influence, she epitomised the opposite: leadership in her very own way. "This tournament demanded everything from us and surpassed everything we've ever experienced," Stanway said later. "And then a final over 120 minutes and a penalty shoot-out, which we won in the end." The fact that she worked her way back into the forefront of European football after several months without competing was no coincidence, but the result of an attitude. Disciplined, patient, almost stoic. Her performance at EURO 2025 was an expression of this, as will her return to Munich be in a few days' time.
She'll not only bring the second European Championship title of her career with her, but something deeper: experience. Resilience. Maturity. "Once again, we managed to come back and find solutions against Spain. They are an incredibly good team, they have such quality, but today we were able to beat them and defend our title," she added. And so this six-month period in 2025 ended not only with the second EURO title of her career, but also with a quiet moment in Switzerland: a pizza shared with her teammates, and, later, a look up at the night sky in Basel. Georgia Stanway knows the journey never stops. And she's certainly already set for the next rollercoaster ride in Munich.
FC Bayern congratulate Georgia Stanway on the second European Championship title of her career:
