How did the Lionesses choose their EURO 2025 basecamp?

“You can have a beautiful hotel but if you don’t have hotel staff that give you that feeling and that commitment, then it’s only an empty shell.”

Those are the words of England women’s senior team general manager, Anja van Ginhoven, which encapsulate just how important the Lionesses’ basecamp selection process for this summer’s UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 has been.

After what was described as an ‘extensive’ process by Kay Cossington, our women's technical director, the Lionesses decided on the scenic Dolder Grand Hotel located on the outskirts of Zurich as their base for this summer’s tournament.

But how did they select both the training facility and the accommodation base? Here, we take a look at how the team made the selection process works.

What is the UEFA catalogue?

Ahead of every major tournament, the team are presented with a catalogue of different basecamps approved by UEFA to choose from. For this particular tournament, the Lionesses were presented with 35 different options.

In total, Cossington, van Ginhoven and the team visited 23 hotels and 24 pitches. And creating a ‘home from home’ was at the very heart of the decision.

“About a year ago, for the first time, I stepped into the door of the Dolder and we could just feel the excitement of the hotel staff,” recalled van Ginhoven. “One of the first things they said to us – similar to The Lensbury for the last EURO and in Terrigal for the World Cup – they said: ‘we want to be part of this’.

Welcome to our crib...🏡

The one and only @JillScottJS8 take us on a behind-the-scenes tour of basecamp!

— Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 22, 2022

“We also took Sarina out there and a couple of other members of staff – we thought we had found a hotel that ticks all of the boxes that we want. It’s a beautiful place.

“We feel super welcome and very supported. All they want to do is give us a great home away from home in the summer.”

Sportanlage Au – a first-class sports complex in the nearby municipality of Opfikon – will serve as the team’s training base, with Andy Gray, head of grounds and estates at St. George's Park's, working alongside facility’s own staff to ensure the pitches are in perfect condition.

“You’ll probably hear anyone associated with the team talk about the importance of this,” explained Cossington. “The team spends so much time there and it’s so important. We talk about the ability to create an environment that keeps people fresh, fit and active, both mentally as well as physically.

“The lessons we’ve learned over many years and from different environments that we’ve all been in – but certainly with The Lensbury and then in Australia – has started filtering through into this basecamp.”

What do the team look for in a basecamp?

Before selecting a basecamp for a major tournament, a criteria of ‘non-negotiables’ are drawn up, from outdoor space to a venue that will accommodate the wider team, as van Ginhoven explained.
Some of those include:

‘We don’t travel alone’

‘I always say to the hotels and training pitches that we don’t travel alone – we also have a big media pack following us,” said van Ginhoven.

“It’s important when we’re looking for a place that yes, we’re looking for some privacy at some point but you also want to have a bit of life around it, a bit of normality and the ability to go out, have a coffee and meet your family and friends.

‘Logical flow’

“A lot of people have asked what we mean when we talk about logical flow,” explained van Ginhoven. “You can find a great hotel where you have a meeting or dining space on one side and all of your other spaces on the other side and it just doesn’t work.

“You want to feel that it’s logical, just like in your house where your living room is in a logical location and close to the kitchen probably. That’s also what we’re looking for in a basecamp.”

‘A brilliant, sunny summer’

“You also want a bit of outdoor space – hopefully Switzerland will give us a summer like we had in 2022 here, so a brilliant, sunny summer,” she outlined.

“Travel time to training is important – you don’t want to spend too much time travelling because we travel a lot during a tournament.”

Involvement of human behaviour specialists

For this summer’s tournament, the Lionesses have also teamed up with human behaviour specialists who leverage research, behavioural sciences, and creative design to understand human beings and their behaviour.

“They look at the nuances in designs and buildings and they tinker with things in rooms – chairs, lighting, tables or whatever it may be – to change the behaviour of humans,” said Cossington.

“It was about how can they help us create a basecamp that can do different things at different times that stimulate different behaviours and thinking for players and staff? It should be a really exciting piece of work and a really exciting project.”