Euro 2025: Switzerland gets late goal to draw with Finland and advance to quarterfinals

GENEVA (AP) — A stoppage-time goal for Switzerland in a frenetic atmosphere will keep the host-nation buzz going for at least one more week into the quarterfinals at the Women’s European Championship.

Switzerland's frantic wave of late attacks set up substitute Riola Xhemaili to level the score 1-1 against Finland in the second minute of added time in a tense end to Group A.

Switzerland only needed a draw to advance ahead of Finland on goal difference but fell behind against the run of play to a 79th-minute penalty by Natalia Kuikka.

“We showed the whole world what Swiss people can do,” said Xhemaili, who was in the ideal spot in the goalmouth to divert a low shot by Géraldine Reuteler that was going wide.

Switzerland will now play its first knockout game at a Women’s Euros against the winner of Group B.

That is likely to be world champion Spain, the standout team at Euro 2025 which has scored 11 goals in two games so far.

Switzerland will get a full week of rest, though, to celebrate its achievement before worrying about the next challenge on July 18 in Bern.

The Swiss and Finns were playing for the runner-up spot in Group A as Norway had already secured top spot after two rounds. Norway rested key starters Thursday in a 4-3 win against Iceland, which had already been eliminated.

Key for Switzerland to advance had been beating Iceland 2-0 after Finland managed only a one-goal win against the same opponent. The second goal against Iceland, in the 90th minute on Sunday, also sparked a fresh passion across the country for this Swiss team.

“The reason we are in the quarterfinal is because we are the home team,” Switzerland coach Pia Sundhage said, praising the fans. “I’m so, so proud of Switzerland and what the players have done so far.

"We are not finished yet.”

Sundhage did not play safely for a draw Thursday. Far from it. She sent on more attackers for the second half, including a forward line of three teenagers.

The 19-year-old Leila Wandeler and 18-year-olds Sydney Schertenleib and Iman Beney stretched the Finland defense and energized the sold-out Stade de Genève.

Switzerland’s all-time record goalscorer Ana-Maria Crnogorčević went on as right wing-back and made a key block in the center of defense.

The strategy was working and Switzerland dominated the second half until conceding a foolish penalty. When Emma Koivisto was tripped by Viola Calligaris it completed a clumsy passage of play in the Swiss penalty area.

It was all vindication for Sundhage, the 65-year-old coach who led the United States to two Olympic titles and the 2011 World Cup final, and led Brazil to a South American championship.

Yet the storied veteran had seemed to be losing a bit of the Swiss public’s faith in her plans for a young team after a winless six-game Nations League campaign this year.

When the equalizing goal went in, Sundhage stood calmly next to the touchline as her players and staff leaped off the bench and onto the field.

When the final whistle blew, she slowly turned to face the fans in the main stand, smiled and held her arms out wide, as if asking: “Well, how about that?”

“These kinds of moments are very encouraging,” Sundhage said later, even making her think she can “go on forever and ever.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Finland 's Eveliina Summanen, on the ground, tries to tackle Switzerland's Nadine Riesen during the Euro 2025, group A, soccer match between Finland and Switzerland at Stade de Geneve in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Switzerland head coach Pia Sundhage smiles at the end of the Euro 2025, group A, soccer match between Finland and Switzerland at Stade de Geneve in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Switzerland players celebrate at the end of the Euro 2025, group A, soccer match between Finland and Switzerland at Stade de Geneve in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Switzerland head coach Pia Sundhage stands by the bench before the Euro 2025, group A, soccer match between Finland and Switzerland at Stade de Geneve in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Finland head coach Marko Saloranta gestures next to fourth official Maria Sole Ferrieri Caputi during the Euro 2025, group A, soccer match between Finland and Switzerland at Stade de Geneve in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Finland 's Eveliina Summanen, on the ground, tries to tackle Switzerland's Nadine Riesen during the Euro 2025, group A, soccer match between Finland and Switzerland at Stade de Geneve in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Finland's Natalia Kuikka raises a fist after scoring the opening goal during the UEFA Women's EURO 2025, group A, soccer match between Finland and Switzerland in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

Finland 's Natalia Kuikka scores the opening goal from the penalty spot during the Euro 2025, group A, soccer match between Finland and Switzerland at Stade de Geneve in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Switzerland's Riola Xhemaili, center, celebrates after scoring her side's goal during the UEFA Women's EURO 2025, group A, soccer match between Finland and Switzerland in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)