Italy Kicks Off EURO 2025 Campaign with Hard-Fought Win Against Belgium

Italy commenced their campaign in the 2025 UEFA Women’s European Championship with a hard-fought 1-0 win against Belgium, successfully putting an end to a streak of three consecutive defeats in their head-to-head encounters.

This marks Belgium’s third consecutive appearance at the tournament, and they are demonstrating progress at the elite level, having previously defeated the reigning champions England in the UEFA Nations League earlier this year.

After observing a minute’s silence in honour of the late Liverpool forward Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva, Belgium looked to start positively, creating several threatening opportunities but failing to challenge their opponents significantly.

Italy recorded the first shot on target midway through the first half, with Arianna Caruso testing Lisa Lichtfus, who managed to make the save, while Marian Toloba narrowly missed the target at the other end.

It wasn’t until the closing stages of the first half that the match began to intensify. Tessa Wullaert had a promising chance but fired wide of the post, shortly followed by Jill Janssens, whose long-range effort sailed over the crossbar.

The missed opportunity by Wullaert would prove costly for Belgium as Caruso struck just before the half-time whistle, delivering a well-placed shot from just inside the area that left Lichtfus with no chance.

In the second half, Belgium sought to level the score, with Wullaert’s header going straight at Italy’s goalkeeper Laura Giuliani around the 60-minute mark.

Not long after, the Azzurre had a brilliant chance to extend their lead; however, Lichtfus displayed great reflexes to deny Cristiani Girelli’s inventive backheel before Caruso’s follow-up effort struck the woodwork.

Substitute Michaela Cambiaghi soon attempted a curling shot that went just wide of the target as Italy pressed for a second goal to secure their advantage. Ultimately, Caruso’s solitary goal was all Italy required to earn the full three points.

Having been eliminated at the group stage in their previous two European Championships, Italy will now harbour hopes of advancing to the knockout phase, celebrating just their second opening match victory in the last six tournaments.

On the other hand, Belgium faces a difficult task ahead, especially with the reigning FIFA World Cup champions, Spain, up next—a team they recently suffered a heavy defeat to, losing 5-0.

Check out a summary of the match here.