Several Chelsea Women players have already been confirmed as heading to Euro 2022 with their countries, while Millie Bright and Pernille Harder already had reasons to celebrate on international duty this week.
There will be no less than four Blues in the England squad as they try to improve on reaching the semi-finals of the last European Championship when this year’s edition begins on home soil on 6 July.
Of those, Bright was in the starting line-up as the Lionesses’ preparations continued with a comfortable 3-0 friendly win over Belgium at Molineux on Thursday.
The defender hit a landmark in that match too, by making her 50th appearance for her country, having earned her first cap against the same opponents in 2016.
Forwards Bethany England and Fran Kirby were both also involved in Wolverhampton, coming off the bench as three second-half goals gave the Lionesses a relatively simple victory. Chelsea’s fourth England representative Jess Carter didn’t take part as she is still returning to full fitness, but is hopeful of being ready for England’s next friendly on Friday.
In another warm-up game ahead of this summer’s tournament two days earlier, Pernille Harder helped Denmark come from behind to beat Austria 2-1 by scoring a fine equaliser after being confirmed in their squad.
The Dane’s were trailing 1-0 at the break but their captain Harder, playing on the left side of a front three, sparked their comeback, having twice already gone close to finding the net, firing narrowly wide following a brilliant solo run before a goalbound effort was headed over the bar.
On this occasion she raced on to a through-ball in the box and guided a clever and composed finish past the keeper to nestle in the bottom corner with just over an hour played, with Denmark scoring a second 10 minutes later to secure the victory.
With several other countries now having announced their squads for Euro 2022, there are a number of other Blues confirmed to be joining those five at the tournament.
The four England internationals will be up against two Chelsea team-mates in the group stage, after Maren Mjelde and Guro Reiten were both named in Norway’s squad.
There will also be plenty of Blues involvement in Group C, where Magda Eriksson and Zecira Musovic are both part of the Sweden squad which will face the Netherlands, who have included Aniek Nouwen in their ranks.
Chelsea’s summer signing Eve Perisset will also be in Euros action with France, while the latest player to book their spot in the tournament is goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, as Germany confirmed their final squad of 23 on Saturday. Germany are in Group B along with Harder’s Denmark.