No. 5 England becomes first reigning champ to lose UEFA Women’s Euro opener

The GIST: Wondering just how warm a European summer is? Safe to say it’s the hottest ticket in town after a record-breaking 34,063 fans took in last week’s Women’s Euro opening day (the host nation’s opener) in Switzerland. Here’s to even more golazos as the group stage rolls on.

💪 No. 16 Norway stands alone atop Group A: The Norwegians have a pair of wins under their belt, beating No. 23 Switzerland 2–1 on Wednesday before toppling their nordic neighbor, No. 26 Finland, by the same score yesterday. That’s right, that means Norway’s already punched their quarter-final ticket with one group-stage game to go. Chalk it up to Scandinavian efficiency.

📜 Group B and C sticking to the script: The top two seeds in Group B, No. 2 Spain and No. 13 Italy, secured wins in their opening tilts last Thursday — La Roja cruised past No. 22 Portugal 5–0 while Le Azzurre one-upped No. 20 Belgium 1–0.

• There also weren’t any surprises in Group C, where the 2022 runners-up, No. 3 Germany, topped No. 27 Poland 2–0 and No. 6 Sweden beat forever foe No. 12 Denmark 1–0. Will that same formula be followed today and tomorrow?

☠️ The Group of (D)eath lives up to its name: One match in and Group D, featuring No. 5 England, No. 10 France, No. 11 Netherlands, and No. 30 Wales, is already causing a raucous. The Lionesses became the first reigning champ to lose a Euros opener, falling 2–1 to the French on Saturday. And the chaos has only just begun.