Slushies and ice cold towels - Sarina Wiegman reveals how England are managing heatwave ahead of Euro 2025 opener against France
Updated 02/07/2025 at 22:48 GMT+1
With parts of Europe in the midst of a heatwave, England manager Sarina Wiegman has turned to some novel ways to ensure her players do not feel the impact of soaring temperatures. It was 34 degrees when The Lionesses trained in Zurich ahead of their Euro 2025 opener against France this weekend. The ice packs have been out, as have ice-treated towels and slushies in order to keep the players cool.
England train in Switzerland ahead of Euro 2025 opener against France at the weekend
Video credit: SNTV
Sarina Wiegman has revealed how England have been coping with the heat as they prepare for UEFA Euro 2025.
The defending champions are in Switzerland, where they will take on France in their opening group fixture on Saturday, July 5.
Temperatures across Europe have soared in recent days, and hit a whopping 34 degrees Celsius in Zurich on Wednesday.
Given the heightened mercury in the UK before the Lionesses jetted off to the tournament, the heat does appear to be following them around.
Wiegman hopes that means her players are beginning to get used to it, but the medical team have also come up with some novel solutions to help during training sessions.
"We have these cold vests, we have [an] ice box, ice drinks they can drink before training sessions," she said.
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"They could also cool down a bit, get your temperature a little bit lower with slushies.
"We have ice-cold towels at the rest moments in the training sessions, they get the towels if they want to. So we make sure we are hydrated.
"Take another rest, don’t go in and out all the time for recovery, and do those things to keep your body temperature low.
"It’s really nice to have the support from the federation too.
"If you see the training pitch, all the things we need to do, the gym, the strategies we have to cool down, we have ice, we have cryo, all the things that help getting prepared for the tournament, so it’s not just one thing."
The forecast for when England kick off against France on Saturday evening is 27 degree temperatures.
They will then have further group games against the Netherlands, whom Wiegman guided to Euro glory in 2017, and finally Wales.
At least one bigger hitter will therefore be eliminated before the knock-out phases, so The Lionesses know they can ill-afford any slip-ups as they attempt to defend the crown they won at Wembley three years ago.
The head coach is therefore trying to put the weather to the back of her mind, and insisted the temperature will not impact her in-game decision-making.
"What we do now is get prepared for Saturday, for France and we’re going to do everything to win that game," she continued.
"When we sub, we do it because it’s necessary to change the game or to sub someone who gave everything that needs to go out.
"I will not think of managing the heat at that point – after that game, we recover and then we come together as a team with the medical, technical, how does everyone come out of this game.
"Then we move forward to the next game against the Netherlands."
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