Leah Williamson promised England supporters the “story is not done yet” as 65,000 fans packed on to the Mall to celebrate the Lionesses’ successful defence of their European crown.
The captain and her teammates partied with stars including the soul singer Heather Small and Burna Boy – who danced on stage with the head coach, Sarina Wiegman – two days after they defeated Spain in Basel to become the first senior England football team to win a major trophy on foreign soil.
The Lionesses lost their first match of the campaign, against France, but defeated the Netherlands, Wales, Sweden and Italy on their route to the final on Sunday against Spain, which was won 3-1 in a penalty shootout.
Williamson said: “The first game maybe rocked us a little bit, but they’re just special people and we love each other, and we’ve got each other’s backs. We had tough moments and nasty things to deal with and still we rise.”
The team’s next challenge will be to win a first Women’s World Cup, when that event is staged in Brazil in the summer of 2027, a gauntlet that was thrown down to them by King Charles when – in his congratulatory message on Sunday – asked the team to “bring home the World Cup in 2027 if you possibly can”.
In the meantime, the team’s celebrations will continue. Among the other star performers of their run to glory in Switzerland was Hannah Hampton, playing in a tournament as the No 1 goalkeeper for the first time. She saved two penalties in the final and told the presenter Alex Scott on stage on Tuesday: “They [her teammates] got me through the whole tournament, when it didn’t start off the way I wanted [it] to and they just kept me going.
“To be standing here with this group of girls is amazing. Don’t let people tell you what you can and can’t do. If you’ve got a dream and you really believe it, just go out and do it. I got told many times that I’m not good enough, that I shouldn’t be playing football from the start, so just keep doing it and, if it makes you happy, go follow that smile.”
The award for young player of the tournament was given to Michelle Agyemang, the 19-year-old striker who scored two crucial equalisers for England in the quarter- and semi-finals. Given a rapturous reception by the central London crowds, the Arsenal player said: “I’m so grateful to be here. It’s still surreal. It doesn’t even seem real seeing people down there, it seems fake! It’s crazy to see what we’ve done and be here today.”
