Wales make history while Scotland miss out on Euro 2025

Wales reached a major women’s football tournament for the first time after beating the Republic of Ireland 2-1 in the second leg of their Euro 2025 qualification play-off on Tuesday.

The match was watched by a crowd of 25,832 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, following a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Cardiff last Friday.

Owing to the magnitude of what was at stake, the return fixture started as a cagey affair, though the hosts had the better openings.

The match remained goalless until the fifth minute of the second half, when Hannah Cain netted a penalty to put Wales one up. Substitute Carrie Jones got another 12 minutes later to put the visitors in dreamland.

While Anna Patten’s late header set up a nervy finish for Wales, they were able to hold out and create history.

THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS #ForHer | #TogetherStronger pic.twitter.com/PEjpVp4Px0

— Wales (@Cymru) December 3, 2024

Elsewhere, Norway confirmed their place at next year’s tournament in Switzerland with a 7-0 aggregate victory over Northern Ireland.

Goals from Caroline Graham Hansen, Frida Maanum and Synne Jensen helped Norway to a 3-0 second-leg victory in Oslo, having won 4-0 in the reverse fixture.

Scotland, however, will miss a third successive major tournament after falling to a 2-0 defeat away to Finland in their decisive play-off match.

Pedro Martinez Losa’s side had 67% of the ball and rattled off 20 attempts on goal, but were unable to find the back of the net following a goalless draw in the first leg.

Finally, Sweden thrashed Serbia 6-0 at home to complete an 8-0 aggregate victory, emphatically booking their spot at next year’s European Championships.

First-half goals from Filippa Angeldal, Kosovare Asllani and a brace from Stina Blackstenius had the game over as a contest, with Hanna Bennison and Anna Anvegard adding extras in the second period.