England’s Lionesses enjoyed the weekend of their lives’ – both on and off the pitch.
The celebrations have not stopped since the final whistle blew on Sunday evening at Wembley Stadium. Chloe Kelly’s extra-time strike to down Germany 2-1 in the final of Euro 2022 already feels iconic and the team has made sure to honour it over the past few days.
While Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline has been an ever-present around English football for some time, a different song has emerged as the Lionesses’ anthem. River Deep Mountain High by Ike and Tina Turner was sung in the changing room on Sunday night and was also belted out by defender Rachel Daly, alongside a body-shaking Millie Bright, on-stage at the joyous Trafalgar Square victory parade on Monday.
It is far from the only song that has soundtracked England’s first trophy in men’s or women’s football for 56 years. Goal-scoring hero Kelly also treated her Instagram followers to a rendition of Vindaloo by Fat Les on the team bus – and the choice of song feels appropriate, considering the way the team celebrated.
"(It was) crazy. Lots of music, lots of dancing. English people can drink," England manager Sarina Wiegman told LionessesLive on Monday. "A little bit too much alcohol, I think. But that's OK. We enjoyed it. When you have these accomplishments, it's really good to have a party."
The party started straight away on Sunday night, with England’s players taking in a lap of honour to soak up the incredible atmosphere inside a packed Wembley Stadium. The final drew an amazing 87,192 fans, which is the highest for any men’s or women’s Euros match.
Once in the dressing room, the singing and dancing could really begin in earnest, with Every Time We Touch by Cascada a favourite rendition. The red England bucket hats and pink cowboy hats were put on as the fun continued – and it even flowed out into the press conference, in the shape of Football’s Coming Home, as Wiegman was attempting to give to the press.
That was around 9.15pm. The Lionesses made it back to their London hotel by 11pm, where they were pictured leaving the team bus with cans of lager in hand. Daly, Bright Jill Scott and Ellen White danced with the trophy in the car park before they finally made it inside.
They continued the festivities once inside, with singing, dancing and drinking going on until around 4am. Some sleep was needed because the whole team – and the trophy – were then due at Trafalgar Square to renew the party in front of 7,000 adoring fans.
Dark sunglasses were the order of the day on Monday, with captain Leah Williamson no doubt speaking for the group when she admitted she was feeling “a little bit rough”. Not that the hangovers diminished the scenes, with central London awash with St George’s flags, red and white face paint and England shirts.
“I ain't stopped dancing, my feet just keep going,” Kelly said when interviewed by former Lioness Alex Scott at Trafalgar Square. “Everyone's absolutely buzzing. We had a good night last night but some of us were a bit worse for wear this morning.”
“We've partied more than we've played football in the last 24 hours,” Williamson told the crowd. “What we've done for women and young girls that can look up and inspire to be us. I think England have hosted an incredible tournament and we've changed the game in this country and hopefully across Europe and across the world. But we said we wanted to make our legacy about winning and that's what we did.”
They certainly did that. Viewing figures have revealed that 23.3million people watched via BBC platforms – a UK record for a women’s football match – while there was a combined attendance of 574,875 across the whole tournament, beating the previous record of 240,555 in 2017.
With the official celebrations done, players went their separate ways to continue the celebrations with family and friends. Arsenal players Williamson and player of the tournament Beth Mead knew what they wanted: fast food. Williamson shared a snap on Instagram of Mead clutching two bags of McDonald's in the back of a car.
Kelly’s social media showed her spending time with family and friends – all sporting England shirts – in a sunshine-filled garden on Monday evening. Having finally got out of her England kit, centre-back Bright, who was instrumental to England’s victory, was out on Monday night wearing some eye-catching bright pink Dior sunglasses.
