"We've changed the game in this country", says Leah Williamson; The Lionesses will finish their bid to secure World Cup qualification against Austria and Luxembourg in September; watch the stars of Euro 2022 live on Sky Sports throughout the 2022/23 season
Friday 9 September 2022 14:31, UK
It’s 8:22pm, over half-an-hour has passed since Leah Williamson tore the roof off Wembley Stadium with a momentous European trophy lift, yet players are still out on the turf, drinking in the adulation from the crowd. They are basking in their unprecedented success, and so they should.
This article was first published prior to the football postponements following the death of The Queen.
The self-proclaimed 'biggest and best' Women's European Championship lived up to its sizeable billing in every sense of the word.
England were crowned champions on home soil in front of a sell-out crowd of 87,192 - a record for men's or women's Euros - meaning a cumulative attendance of 574,875 across a ground-breaking tournament.
From the moment 68,871 fans packed into Manchester's iconic Old Trafford for the Lionesses' opener against Austria, the stage was set for stardom.
England went on to dazzle, inspire and momentarily shock spectators up and down the country, before triumphantly navigating a final that was watched by a peak audience of 17.4million.
Captain Williamson was named in UEFA's 'team of the tournament' alongside top scorer Beth Mead, as well as Mary Earps and Keira Walsh.
"We've changed the game in this country - and hopefully across Europe and across the world," Williamson said at a celebration event in Trafalgar Square on Monday.
But what does that all mean for England's future? Will this be the start of a sustained period of domination for the Lionesses, after the numerous false dawns of prior campaigns?
Momentum is one of football's most useful currencies. The swing in England's favour began way before Euro 2022 commenced, as they entered the tournament off the back of a 14-match unbeaten streak under Sarina Wiegman.
Arguably, the shift began the moment Wiegman stepped through the door. Never before had England Women been led by a coach with a certified blueprint for winning major international trophies.
Her record at European Championships was, and still is, flawless. 12 played, 12 won.
There are calls for the Dutchwomen's statue to be erected outside Wembley, while players are being offered "freedom of the borough" honours in their respective hometowns. It's a profound change from generations before.
Some of England's 1966 World Cup winners had to wait decades to be recognised for their feat, but Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has already called for the Lionesses' success to be celebrated in the New Year's Honours List.
England's senior level trophy cabinet, baron for 56 long years, has a shiny new toy.
Now, the task for Wiegman's history makers is to turn a one-off conquest into a series of international coups that dispel any insinuation that England merely got lucky on home turf.
It's no mean feat, but the Lionesses have an arsenal of weaponry.
For starters, youth is on their side. The average age of the Lionesses unchanged starting XI was 27. That was further reduced when the likes of Alessia Russo, 23, Ella Toone, 22, and Chloe Kelly, 24, were routinely introduced.
Veteran Jill Scott may well have made her final international appearance - what a way to go out - but the remainder of this prevailing squad will stay intact.
The inhibition associated with successive semi-final exits has also been dispersed. A glass ceiling has been irreversibly shattered.
Lionesses' teams of old seemed to stumble when trying to hurdle the final barrier on the home straight. Not this team. They skipped over it with the grace and elegance of a Russo back-flick - it was symptomatic of this side's courageous nature.
England entered the tournament driven by fearlessness and re-emerged as heroines.
Not blighted by near-misses, they carried an air of controlled confidence never before seen by an English national side. It was the coming together of England Women's golden generation.
Wiegman's prerogative now switches to extending this summer's ecstasy beyond Euro 2022. "The World Cup is around the corner," Chloe Kelly said eagerly, just 12 hours after crowning her fairytale comeback with the tournament's title-winning goal.
Claiming a first major trophy to such public acclaim has catapulted England into the spotlight and now they must maintain that standing. Should Wiegman's side secure their trip down under for next summer's World Cup finals, the degree of difficulty will increase significantly as they target the biggest prize of all.
Ranked eighth by FIFA before they kicked a ball at the Euros, they dispensed with second placed Sweden in style before outfoxing the Germans, who were fifth, but sterner tests will follow.
Reigning World Cup champions USA remain football's powerhouse and will take some beating. But only a sprinkling of players who suffered semi-final heartache in both 2015 and 2019 editions of that competition remain among Lionesses ranks.
Williamson, who played six minutes of football at the 2019 World Cup, has ushered in a new era. One that celebrates Mead's achievements as Euros Golden Boot winner, Walsh's world-beating displays in central midfield and Russo's ingenuity from the substitutes bench. The step change is squad deep.
What may be a help and a hinderance is very few members of this side have ever experienced adversity - although some may argue England suffered at the hands of Spain for 84 minutes, prior to Toone's timely arrival in the box during their narrow semi-final victory.
Even then, England were never beaten. That mentality shift has been guided by a change in culture. Wiegman's communicative yet straight-talking style has greatly benefited the group, both individually and collectively. She plotted a route to the final that was laden with so many standout moments you couldn't help but be endeared. It was tactical mastery.
It also helped capture the nation's heart, so much so that internet searches for 'girl's football team' have risen by 3,167 per cent. That in itself will represent a major win for the manager, who has since been dubbed by Lucy Bronze as an "honorary Englishwomen".
What's to come will be infinitely harder challenges, in foreign territories, without the backing of adoring home fans. But based on recent evidence, there is nothing to suggest England will not confront such challenges head on. Their sights are set on global domination.
What began as somewhat of an experiment just 11 months ago, geared towards a steady rise in advancement and growth, has ended in an unimaginably rewarding evolution of an extremely talented side.
The Lionesses now carry the fear factor, and have given themselves the very best chance of graduating from the European stage to the world stage in one seamless motion next summer.
Watch the stars of England's Euro 2022 triumph play in the Women's Super League live on Sky Sports during the 2022/23 season; the new campaign gets under way in September.
England captain Williamson will lead her Arsenal side into an opening weekend clash at Manchester City in front of the Sky cameras.
The season's curtain-raiser between Tottenham and Manchester United is also live on Sky Sports.
