FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon will be supporting England to win the Euro 2022 final.
The SNP leader sent her best wishes to the English national team – known as the lionesses – who will face off against Germany for the title on Sunday July 31.
She wrote on Twitter: “I wish @ScotlandNT had been at #weuro2022 but @Lionesses have been brilliant.
“They are great ambassadors for the women’s game and I hope they win tonight.”
“Good luck,” she added alongside an English St George’s Cross.
I wish @ScotlandNT had been at #weuro2022 but @Lionesses have been brilliant. They are great ambassadors for the women’s game and I hope they win tonight. Good luck 🏴 https://t.co/D1SmWtMlj4
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) July 31, 2022
Interim prime minister Boris Johnson also paid tribute to the squad for showing football “is not just for boys” in a good luck message ahead of the final at a sold-out Wembley.
In a letter addressed to manager Sarina Wiegman, captain Leah Williamson, and the rest of the England team, Johnson wrote: “On behalf of the whole country, I want to wish you all the very best of luck in today’s final.
“Your passion for the game, your tenacity in tricky spots and above all your astounding talent on the pitch have already created a summer of fantastic memories for millions of us.
“In any pride it is the lionesses who ruthlessly hunt as a team and bring their prize back home, and I am sure that will be the case against Germany.”
My letter to the @Lionesses. Best of luck in the final this evening. #WEURO2022 pic.twitter.com/7RoejFynN7
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) July 31, 2022
The highly-anticipated clash against Germany is expected to draw in the biggest home TV audience on record for a women’s football match.
Some 90,000 fans are due to fill Wembley Stadium – most hoping to watch the Lionesses secure the first major tournament title for an England team since 1966 – while millions more watch from homes, pubs and fan zones.
The record number of UK viewers for a women’s game is nine million, which was set during England’s semi-final defeat by the United States in the 2019 World Cup, according to the ratings organisation Barb.
Ahead of the 5pm kick-off on Sunday, an all-female RAF flypast will take to the skies.
Flanked by two Typhoon fighter jets, a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft crewed by three women will soar over the north-west London arena.
Hoping to bring back the Championship silverware for the first time, the lionesses are the underdogs against their eight-time Euro winning opponent, but will have huge support from the home crowd.
Will you be supporting the English team to take home the top prize?
