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LONDON: England head coach Sarina Wiegman has called for greater investment in women’s football as her side celebrated Euro 2025 success at a “very, very special” reception at 10 Downing Street.

The Lionesses successfully defended their Women’s European Championship title with a penalty shootout victory over Spain in the final in Basel, Switzerland on Sunday. Having become the first England team to win a major tournament on foreign soil, the squad flew home to attend a reception hosted by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and sports minister Stephanie Peacock in central London.

The team arrived just before 7pm, with No. 10 decorated for the occasion with St. George’s flags – also known as the flag of England – draped over windows and bunting along the railings.

As Wiegman rose to speak to those gathered in the Downing Street garden she joked that “this is different from standing next to a pitch.”

She added: “I have to make my apologies (for giving) you lots of heart attacks. You all made it through and we made it through and that’s why we’re here now.

“The team is just incredible, we won the Euros but making the final, we’re already legendary, what the team has done and the team behind the team.

“Thank you so much for having us here. It’s very, very special to be here and to be in this very nice garden with the way you set it up with all these pictures, it makes it more special, it’s the first moment it sinks in a little bit because it was surreal what happened last night.”

Wiegman, speaking a few hours before the UK government announced a new package of measures to boost access to grassroots football, used the moment to call for further investment in the game.

“This incredible team won the Euros and then straightaway sent a letter to you, the Government, asking for attention and asking for access to football for all girls,” Wiegman said. “Steps have been taken but we’re not done yet, we have to keep moving forward and we need a little bit more.”

“We need some more investment,” she said. “We’re not there yet. In England we’re up there but England needs to stay the trailblazer, it needs to be the big example. The players first but also the FA, the clubs, the Government, the country, the fans – let’s keep being the trailblazers.”

In her own speech, Rayner congratulated Wiegman’s team on defending their title “with grit, with determination and with skill”.

“You roared, and I know I wasn’t the only one roaring with you,” Rayner said.

Earlier on Monday, following almost a month of competition in Switzerland, the team’s airplane branded with the word “home” touched down at Southend Airport in southeast England.

In a post on social media, the team shared a photo of the Euros trophy draped in an England flag on a seat of the plane.

Holding the trophy, captain Leah Williamson was first to step off the plane alongside Wiegman. Outside of the airport, crowds were lined up to welcome the team.

On Sunday fans erupted with joy across England after Chloe Kelly lashed in her spot kick to give her team a 3-1 win on penalties, after a 1-1 draw following extra time. According to the BBC, a peak live audience of 12.2 million watched the game across its platforms, making it the most watched television moment of 2025 across all TV broadcasters.

It was back-to-back European trophies for the Lionesses and yet another final that Kelly had a huge impact on, after also coming on as a substitute during the Euro 2022 trophy match and scoring the winner against Germany.

A homecoming open-top bus parade follows in central London on Tuesday, where there will be a procession along The Mall and the celebration will finish with a staged ceremony in front of Buckingham Palace.

Defender Jess Carter has not joined her team-mates for the celebrations in London as she has returned to the United States ahead of Gotham FC’s NWSL match against the Chicago Stars on Saturday.

King Charles III said the team had the royal family’s “warmest appreciation and admiration” following its win.

“The next task is to bring home the World Cup in 2027 if you possibly can,” he added.

ISLAMABAD: Former captain and ex-Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Saurav Ganguly has backed India playing Pakistan in the upcoming Asia Cup tournament in the UAE, saying that “sports must go on” despite surging tensions between the two countries. 

Pakistan and India are set to lock horns in the upcoming Asia Cup tournament to be played from September 9-28. The two traditional archrivals are expected to meet each other on the cricket field on September 14 in a high-stakes group clash to be held in the UAE. 

India and Pakistan have not hosted each other for a bilateral series in over a decade, with political and security concerns consistently spilling over into cricketing ties. Former Indian cricketers, including Head Coach Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan, have publicly called for India to boycott matches against Pakistan after the two countries engaged in a brief military conflict in May. 

“Yeah, I’m okay, I’m okay. Sport must go on,” Ganguly told Asian News International on Sunday. “At the same time Pahalgam must not happen but sports must go on.”

The former BCCI president was talking about an attack on April 22 at Pahalgam, a tourist resort in Indian-administered Kashmir, where gunmen killed 26 people.

The incident sparked an armed conflict between the two countries, with New Delhi blaming Islamabad for supporting the attack. Pakistan denied the allegations and called for an international, transparent inquiry into the incident. 

India and Pakistan enjoy one of the fiercest sports rivalries when it comes to cricket. Separated after partition in 1947, both nuclear-armed countries have fought three wars against each other over the past seven decades, with diplomatic ties between them remaining mostly bitter.

The political tensions make for an enthralling contest every time the two teams compete against each other. India and Pakistan clashes have been the biggest, quickest-selling and most anticipated matches of every multilateral cricket tournament, drawing thousands to stadiums across the globe and millions to TV sets worldwide.