Slushies and ice cold towels – Sarina Wiegman reveals how England are managing heatwave ahead of Euro 2025 opener against France


Sarina Wiegman has revealed how England have been coping with the heat as they prepare for UEFA Euro 2025.

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.

“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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