\n<\/p>\n
The Lionesses have been greeted by cheering crowds after landing at Southend airport, with fans eager to give the squad a triumphant homecoming after their Euro 2025 victory.<\/p>\n
The team arrived back in the UK on Monday afternoon after defending their title in a penalty shootout win over Spain in Basel on Sunday. Many supporters had dressed for the Lionesses\u2019 return, wearing England kits and holding flags.<\/p>\n
Cheers erupted at the Essex airport as the plane approached the runway and again as the team emerged from the airport to walk along a red carpet waving at fans.<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s captain, Leah Williamson, led the squad out of the private terminal just before 5pm, carrying the trophy. Among the fans were the twins Poppy and Daisy Macdonald, 11, from Benfleet, Essex, who were holding a sign asking for a photo with the star striker Alessia Russo.<\/p>\n
Poppy said: \u201cWe\u2019re so proud. They\u2019ve won it two times in a row and they\u2019ve worked so hard for it. They\u2019ve had a lot of injuries and setbacks but they\u2019ve done really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daisy admitted she struggled to watch the penalty shootout. \u201cI couldn\u2019t watch, I was very nervous, but very happy that they won,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The players attended a celebratory reception at Downing Street, hosted by the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, and the sports minister, Stephanie Peacock.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Sarina Wiegman, the England manager, holds the trophy outside No 10 after the win in Basel.<\/span> Photograph: David Levene\/The Guardian<\/p>\n No 10 was decorated for the occasion, with St George\u2019s flags draped over windows and bunting along the railings. Welcoming the team, Rayner called it a \u201chistoric day for English football, for women\u2019s sport \u2013 and for the country\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Lionesses have brought it home again,\u201d she said. \u201cWith grit, and with determination and skill, you roared. And I know I wasn\u2019t the only one roaring with you.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve made us all so, so, proud. Your performances have inspired the nation and lifted women\u2019s football to new heights \u2026 Role models like you send such a powerful message. The Lionesses are a shining example of a talent and excitement of women\u2019s football.<\/p>\n \u201cThis win is a brilliant advert for the sport and will inspire thousands of girls to dream big,\u201d she added. \u201cThe next generation of Lionesses are out there now \u2013 playing in schools, parks, and grassroots clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was amazing. I just burst out crying just in pure emotion,\u201d said one fan waiting outside the black gates in front of Downing Street. \u201cJust that little girl inside of me watching football when I was younger and seeing how far the game has grown since then, it all just kind of got to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Another fan waiting to get a peek of the team had only just come back from Switzerland to watch the team romp to the final. Izzy said seeing the players arrive at Downing Street was an opportunity that could not be missed.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me there wasn\u2019t really a doubt that they were going to win, but it was still really stressful,\u201d said the 30-year-old, who asked not to share her surname after calling in sick to work to celebrate the Lionesses\u2019 victory.<\/p>\n <\/span>Leah Williamson leaving the team\u2019s hotel in Zurich while carrying the trophy on Monday.<\/span> Photograph: Nick Potts\/PA<\/p>\n As a former player herself, she travelled to London alone and is staying in the capital for Tuesday\u2019s open-top bus tour. She said the growth in support since the team\u2019s 2022 win was evident by having to queue online for tickets to watch Sunday\u2019s match at a London screening.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Sign up to Football Daily<\/span><\/p>\n Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cThat wouldn\u2019t have happened a few years ago,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s great to see everyone supporting them.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite some players being lined up for MBEs after the victory, and congratulations from Keir Starmer and King Charles, it is understood that Downing Street has no plans for a bank holiday to mark the Lionesses\u2019 triumph.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we had a bank holiday every time the Lionesses win, [we] would never go to work,\u201d the Starmer\u2019s spokesperson said on Monday, as the prime minister met the US president, Donald Trump, in Scotland.<\/p>\n After the Downing Street reception, Labour announced plans to more than double grassroots playing slots for women and girls across England over the next five years.<\/p>\n \u201cToday we\u2019re taking decisive action to ensure that the incredible success of the Lionesses creates a lasting legacy for women and girls in sport,\u201d said the culture, media and sport secretary, Lisa Nandy, who attended Sunday\u2019s final in Basel.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t just about celebrating today\u2019s achievements \u2013 it\u2019s about building the foundations through our plan for change by removing barriers to participation.\u201d<\/p>\n Williamson had been seen earlier on Monday smiling and holding the trophy as the team left their hotel in Zurich and began their journey home in the rain. Other team members, wearing their medals, smiled as they high-fived supporters waiting outside the building and signed autographs.<\/p>\n The team will take part in an open-top bus procession along the Mall and a ceremony in front of Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.<\/p>\n A trip to Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle may be on the cards for the winning squad in the autumn. Royal aides are understood to be exploring the possibility of a reception.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Lionesses have been greeted by cheering crowds after landing at Southend airport, with fans eager to give the squad a triumphant homecoming after their Euro 2025 victory. The team arrived back in the UK on Monday afternoon after defending their title in a penalty shootout win over Spain in Basel on Sunday. Many supporters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[311,1904,743,1413,6487,456,6488,6486,1007,1905,3518,1214],"class_list":{"0":"post-12824","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-england","9":"tag-euro","10":"tag-fans","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-greeted","13":"tag-home","14":"tag-jubilant","15":"tag-lionesses","16":"tag-return","17":"tag-team","18":"tag-victory","19":"tag-womens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}