While the Lionesses, seeking a first ever European crown, start as one of the favourites this time, it was a different story when the Euros came to Manchester, Blackburn, Blackpool, Preston and Warrington.
Hope Powell’s squad were part-time and the England boss stated before the tournament: “The women’s game here is a second-class sport.”
Striker Kelly Smith’s club Arsenal might have been the top women’s team in England at the time, but six months before the Euros she had to work as a temporary postwoman to keep herself in boots.
“It’s important we put on a good show this summer, especially with the reputation the women’s game has in England – or doesn’t have,” Smith, interviewed by the Times,, external said at the time.
“There are a lot of negative images out there that men, especially, cling on to.”
Five months before Euro 2005, Powell took her players to La Manga for warm-weather training but 17-year-old striker Eniola Aluko was not there.
A key member of the squad, Aluko stayed home to revise for her A-levels , externalin psychology, media studies and English.
As the tournament neared, stars of Coronation Street and Hollyoaks such as actor Bradley Walsh were wheeled out to help sell tickets, external priced £5 for adults and £2.50 concessions. Tickets for Euro 2022, external range from £5 to £50.
The City of Manchester Stadium, which had hosted the Commonwealth Games three years earlier, staged England’s opening group match against Finland, and a crowd of 29,092 watched 17-year-old Birmingham City forward Karen Carney score a 91st-minute winner.
Moments before Carney’s goal sealed a 3-2 win, England’s media officer had gone down to the tunnel area to organise post-match television interviews.
“When Karen scored, I just ran backwards down the tunnel like David Pleat in reverse. I shouted something and ran back to the foot of the tunnel,” recalls Stone.
“The Uefa media delegate standing nearby took me to one side and said ‘that’s not what we normally do’. I apologised and explained I’d worked with these players for so long and I knew how much they wanted to shine.
“It wasn’t just three points in a group game. It’s what it might mean to the future development of the sport in England.”
Even at 17, Carney was not the youngest scorer at Euro 2005 – which saw Germany secure the fourth of six successive European titles – an honour that went to Norway’s 16-year-old striker Isabell Herlovsen.
Still, the English teenager noticed a change in public perceptions.
“It was the first time I’d seen people walking down the street wearing England jerseys with our names on,” Carney said, speaking to the Football Association website in 2018, external.
“That opening game at Manchester City was unbelievable. There were so many fans there.”