UEFA Women's Euro: England claims victory

More needs to be done for women's professional sport, Le Monde demands:

“Apart from the fact that women's sports receive less TV coverage, there is still too great a focus on the appearance, age or family life of the female athletes, while with men more attention is paid to their performance. Progress is still needed in many areas. In the promotion of young players, the fight for equal pay, the professionalisation needed to make a sport attractive to viewers, and in the development of associations, which are still too dominated by men. Sport must live up to the values it represents.”

La Vanguardia comments:

“The differences compared with men's football remain abysmal. ... The sixteen teams that qualified shared 16 million euros among them - twice as much as in 2017 - but we should bear in mind that UEFA distributed 371 million euros among the countries that qualified for the 2021 Men's Euro Championship. ... Football is played by footballers, whether they are men or women, so the success of this European Championship is a success for football. It's a sport that attracts both sexes, but one in which there is still a huge gap that events like the competition in London will no doubt help to reduce.”

The victorious English female football players delivered a great performance not just in terms of athletic prowess but also with their team spirit, applauds The Daily Telegraph:

“They are, firstly, great ambassadors for getting off the sofa and moving about. That in itself could transform the physical and mental health of women and girls, given that a recent survey by the Nuffield Health charity found almost half of women respondents had done no vigorous exercise in the past 12 months. But perhaps the most notable thing about the comportment of the Lionesses during the Euros has been their apparent lack of the wayward individualism characteristic of elite male footballers.”

Gazeta Wyborcza pins its hopes on Poland's female footballers:

“It's hard to believe that only half a century ago women were not allowed to play football. In fact it's as absurd as the fact that at around the same time women in Switzerland did not yet have the right to vote. Now, however, the UK is in a frenzy. The women players are being cast as heroes on the front pages of newspapers and major websites. ... Will we Poles soon experience such a frenzy too? It's is not out of the question. Poland is bidding to host the European Championship in 2025. ... Our players are getting better and better, and it's only a matter of time before our team starts to compete successfully in Europe.”

Yle hopes that the enthusiasm for the UEFA Woman's Euro will also have a positive impact at the national level:

“The next goal must be to focus on the top leagues. We have to make the games credible and attractive in the national leagues as well. On a day-to-day basis, the hype surrounding the European Women's football championship must be exploited, especially in England, which is celebrating its first UEFA Women's gold medal. Football events must be created where the clubs attract not only locals but also tourists who are willing to pay for tickets, even if the growing interest will inevitably lead to higher prices.”