⏰⏰⏰#WEURO2022pic.twitter.com/7dtFaGK6XM
— UEFA Women's EURO 2022 (@WEURO2022) July 5, 2022
The 2022 UEFA European Women's Football Championship officially kicked off on July 6th with hosts England beating Austria 1-0 in front of a record-breaking crowd. Due to Covid delays, it's been five years since the last Euros. The Guardian made a handy, if sometimes questionable, guide to all the players in the tournament. Nice layout though.
The big news going in is Spain's captain and the current best player in the world, Alexia Putellas, tore her ACL during a training session the day before the Euros started and will be out of the competition.
Historically, the Euros have been dominated by Germany who've won 8 out of the 12 championships to date including six titles in a row from 1995-2013. They were upset by Denmark in the 2017 quarterfinals and haven't been able to return to their old form as other nations have started investing more in the sport. England, Sweden, Spain, France, and Germany are the top contenders but then again no one expected a Netherlands vs Denmark final last time around so anything can happen.
Now let's get to the gay gossip.
Note: Image heavy under the spoiler tags. I can't include every alleged lesbian/bisexual player because there are simply too many of them.
SPAIN
Alexia Putellas. She was allegedly in a relationship for several years with teammate Jenni Hermoso. They broke up sometime before the 2021 Ballon d'Or ceremony which they attended on seemingly good terms (Jenni was nominated; Alexia won).
Jenni Hermoso. Spain's all-time top goalscorer. Although neither of them will be playing in the Euros due to injury, they are the two biggest names on the Spanish team so I'm including them here. Social media sleuths report that she & Alexia have moved on from each other. Shippers are undeterred.
Mapi León. She was the first active Spanish NT player to be publicly OUT out to the mainstream media. (Most of these athletes are technically out but just don't talk about it to the media.) She was dating Swiss defender and Barcelona teammate Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic but the rumor is that Mapi cheated on her with new Norwegian transfer Ingrid Engen earlier this year. Was the main gay crew of Barca really mad at Mapi over this and pointedly excluding her while hanging out with AMC instead, or is that just wild fan speculation? Is one of Barca's international spots permanently reserved for Mapi's dating pool? Tune in next season!
Leila Ouahabi. She was pretty open about her relationship with goalkeeper Misa Rodriguez until they suddenly deleted all of their couple-y pics. At first people assumed they split but it seems like they're low-key still together so it was probably a PR directive since it happened around the time they were getting more mainstream famous.
SWEDEN
Magdalena Eriksson. Magda and her long-time girlfriend, Denmark captain Pernille Harder, are the power couple of woso. You've probably seen the picture of them kissing at the World Cup. (In 2019 Sweden eliminated Denmark from WC qualifications. Pernille attended as a spectator wearing Magda's jersey.) Acutely aware of their status as role models, they're very outspoken about their relationship and LGBT rights.
Lina Hurtig. Met her wife while they both played at Linköpings. Lina, like goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl, has been with the same partner for many years, ends up married with kids, and is very
Caroline Seger. A beloved legend of the sport. Everyone who's ever played with her gushes about her leadership skills and how down-to-earth she is. Here's a video of her teammate (and rumored girlfriend) Olivia Schough choking up talking about her after Sweden's heartbreaking loss to Canada at the Tokyo Olympics.
GERMANY
Germany's head coach, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, was peripherally involved in one of the messiest dramas in woso history back in her playing days.
Martina, the most capped German player at the time, was involved with her teammate, Inka Grings. During a 2000 training camp, they had a major falling out when Martina found out Inka was cheating on her. Martina couldn't stand to be around Inka so she made up an excuse to the coach, Tina Theune-Meyer, to leave training. Feeling guilty about the white lie, she came clean later that same day to the coach about what the real issue was. Theune-Meyer immediately kicked Voss out, left her off of the Olympics roster citing mental unfitness, and basically ended Martina's international career.
Inka Grings would soon start dating a teammate at Duisburg (and later the NT), Linda Bresonik. (There were some rumors that it was Linda that Inka cheated on Martina with.) Their relationship lasted for several years before Inka left Linda for a male coach named Holger Fach. Linda didn't want to give up on Inka and made grand declarations that she would fight to get her back. It worked, and Inka and Linda got back together. That is, until Linda left Inka for... Holger Fach.
Fast forward a year or two. Inka is still playing at Duisburg. Linda then re-joins the club. Who is signed on as their new coach? Martina Voss.
Sara Doorsoun. Dating Lou Schaaf, the winner of the German lesbian dating reality show Princess Charming.
Laura Freigang. Another player who scrubbed their social media of overtly gay content when they got big and got new reps.
Lea Schüller. On the flip side, Lea has a very public relationship with Austrian sailor Lara Vadlau as her star has risen.
ENGLAND
Leah Williamson. She and teammate Jordan Nobbs were one of the most popular alleged couples until they allegedly broke up in 2021. They never officially confirmed anything but the rumor mill puts their relationship at five or six years.
Beth Mead. She and her then-Arsenal teammate, Dutch midfielder Danielle van de Donk, split last year and now Danielle is dating her now-Lyon teammate, Ellie Carpenter. Idk who Beth is dating now.
Lucy Bronze. She and teammate Keira Walsh are now the only couple on the English NT.
Where to watch officially
Tournament schedule
source