Euro 2025 Penalty Misses: Are spot-kicks cursed? France and Germany miss four more in eventful quarter-final epic
Updated 20/07/2025 at 13:58 GMT+1
It was hard to imagine anything stranger than the penalty shoot-out between England and Sweden in their Euro 2025 quarter-final. But then two more penalties were missed by Spain in their meeting with hosts Switzerland on Friday. Four more failed to find the net in Germany and France's eventful quarter-final on Saturday. Is this the tournament of the cursed penalty?
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England and Sweden combined in their Euro 2025 quarter-final to showcase perhaps the most extraordinary penalty shoot-out in recent history, as Swedish goalkeeper Jennifer Falk saved four spot-kicks, yet somehow her team still failed to go through.
Then, Spain and hosts Switzerland faced off in their quarter-final on Friday. And world champions Spain missed two penalties of their own during the game.
In Germany's quarter-final victory over France, one was saved during regular time and three failed to reach the net in the shoot-out, which Germany won 6-5.
It continues a bizarre trend at this summer's tournament of penalties being missed more than usual.
After Spain's first penalty miss, where Mariona Caldentey sent her spot-kick wide, Opta pointed out that only 50% of penalties taken at the tournament had been scored, including in shoot-outs.
That statistic was extended to 12 out of 25 penalties being missed after Alexia Putellas later sent her penalty straight at Swiss goalkeeper Livia Peng, though this recovered to 24 out of 41 after Germany's quarter-final win - 58.5%.
Penalties these days have evolved into a game of data and careful preparation, and long has the myth of the lottery been dispelled. But the unpredictability and the pressure on players is still there.
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Recent seasons have seen officials crack down on goalkeepers encroaching on the penalty taker and moving early.
That goalkeepers at the tournament seem to be moving earlier than usual may provide one reason why so many penalties are being saved or missed.
Speaking after the game between Spain and Switzerland, former England centre-back Steph Houghton touched on the fact that keepers are moving early.
"It has been interesting because the goalkeepers have been going really early," Houghton said.
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Mariona Caldentey reacts after her penalty miss for Spain against Switzerland at Euro 2025
Image credit: Getty Images
"I think you take last night's penalty shoot-out, and generally the goalkeepers are going a little bit earlier. In that pressurised moment there is a lot going on.
"But I think with players like Mariona Caldentey and Alexia Putellas, they're experienced players and have a lot of quality. So I don't know what's going on with penalties."
Former England international and current Bristol City coach Anita Asante was beside Houghton, and said: "You expect Caldentey to step up and score.
"We've seen her score a number of penalties domestically for Arsenal, and she drags it wide.
"Actually, if you look at the goalkeeper, her body language is half inching to go to her right-hand side, and you think could they just wait a split second longer? Steph, myself, and Nikita were just like what's going on?"
Even in today's landscape where opposition tactics and penalty routines are analysed and scrutinised, luck, pressure, and other tangibles are still just as prevalent in penalty shoot-outs.
After England's shoot-out with Sweden, Beth Mead admitted that sometimes it "doesn't go to plan".
"I think we're all frustrated in the sense that we had our system, we've practised them every day, we've got our routines, and sometimes it doesn't go to plan," she said.
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