England win WU23 European Competition

England women’s under-23s were crowned as the U23 European Competition champions on Friday, after beating Sweden by 3-0 in the final of the 2025-26 edition.

Lydia Bedford’s Young Lionesses lifted the trophy in Murcia, after goals from Izzy Goodwin, Hannah Silcock and Olivia McLaughlin proved enough to seal a convincing victory in the Spanish sunshine.

With Bedford only taking charge of the squad for this month’s camp after taking over the reigns from Emma Coates, the new head coach had a dream start by leading England to a semi-final win over the Netherlands earlier in the week, before her team were crowned as champions.

It comes after the Young Lionesses bounced back from an opening game 5-0 defeat against Germany, before picking up a draw with Portugal to get themselves up and running last October.

From there, wins over Norway and France in November and March respectively followed to secure a place in this month’s showdown between the final four teams.

And England saved their best performance of the campaign for when it mattered most, as they made a magnificent start to the game.

Just four minutes in and the Young Lionesses won the ball close to Sweden’s 18-yard box before Goodwin continued her goalscoring streak, by nestling the ball into the corner from outside the box.

England continued their pressure and chased a second goal, which came through Hannah Silcock - a header from a corner swung in by Chloe Sarwie - just five minutes after Goodwin’s opener to set them on their way.

After scoring two goals in quick succession, the Young Lionesses established control of the game and looked comfortable against their Scandinavian opponents.

The Young Lionesses came close to adding a third early in the second half, after a charging run from Anouk Denton saw her lay the ball back into the box from the byline, but Nesrin Akgü cleared the ball for Sweden.

England didn’t have to wait much longer though and found their third only minutes later, when Lenna Gunning-Williams received the ball on the right flank and drove past two Swedish defenders. She then picked out Olivia McLoughlin in the box and she glanced it home to put England firmly in control.

McLoughlin almost had a second, after substitute Lexi Lloyd-Smith picked up the ball in Sweden's half, before playing the ball through to McLoughlin before she fired her shot over the bar.

A low cross from Jess Simpson then found McLoughlin in the box – with the Leicester City player still chasing her second goal – but at full stretch for the ball her shot ended up over the bar.

The game was won by this stage though, as England comfortably managed their way through the final stages to seal a winning end to the 2025-26 season.

England: 1 Khiara Keating (Manchester City), 2 Anouk Denton (Bay FC), 3 Chloe Sarwie (Chelsea), 4 Ruby Mace (Everton), 5 Hannah Silcock (Birmingham City, on loan from Liverpool), 6 Teyah Goldie (London City Lionesses), 7 Lenna Gunning-Williams (Tottenham Hotspur), 8 Lexi Potter (Chelsea), 9 Isobel Goodwin (London City Lionesses), 11 Mia Enderby (Liverpool), 12 Olivia McLoughlin (Leicester City)

Substitutes: 19 Lexi Lloyd-Smith (Bristol City) for Gunning-Williams 59’, 21 Laila Harbert (Everton, on loan from Arsenal) for Potter 59’, 20 Jessie Gale (Bristol City, on loan from Arsenal) for Goodwin 71', 10 Eleanor Klinger (Stanford University) for Enderby 71’, 16 Jess Simpson (Southampton, on loan from Manchester United) for Sarwie 71’

Substitutes not used: 13 Katie Cox (Aberdeen, on loan from Chelsea), 22 Natalia Negri (Ipswich Town), 14 Sarah Brasero (West Ham), 15 Gracie Prior (Manchester City), 17 Megan Collett (Southampton), 18 Neve Herron (Birmingham City), 23 Vivienne Lia (Hammarby, on loan from Arsenal)

Goals: Goodwin 4’, Silcock 9’, McLoughlin 56’

Head coach: Lydia Bedford