Women’s sports biggest moments in 2025: From Lionesses and Red Roses glory to India success and emergence of new stars! | Football News

This year was set to be a big year for women’s sports and it certainly lived up to those expectations with endless success from female athletes.

From the Lionesses successfully defending their European title and the Red Roses reclaiming the Rugby World Cup trophy, to the Netball Super League’s incredible growth and big WSL signings.

Here are our picks of the top women’s sports moments from 2025!

Lionesses do it again

In July we saw a very tense run from the Lionesses who worried fans at each round, but somehow went on to successfully defend their European title 1-1 (3-1 on penalties).

Throughout the tournament we saw the impact that young star Michelle Agyemang, and Euro 2022 icon Chloe Kelly had when eventually brought on off the substitutes bench.

Not only did we see Kelly shine yet again in the final this year, where she scored the winning penalty.

But it also signified an official changing of the goalkeeping guard with Hannah Hampton, crucially saving two penalties during the shootout in the final.

Then, as if Lionesses fans didn’t already love Sarina Wiegman for the success she’s brought, her love for Burna Boy warmed the hearts of many more when the Nigerian musician surprised the team at their homecoming parade.

Red Roses break record for World Cup win

A heart-breaking 34-31 loss in the 2021 Rugby World Cup for England after losing a player due to a red card, set up the perfect redemption story – finally winning it again, but this time on home soil.

The Red Roses had won every game since their loss to New Zealand in the last RWC final, so it was very much expected that they would take the win this time.

That they did, dismissing an impressive Canadian side 33-13 to show their dominance and win in front of a sold-out Twickenham crowd of 81,885 spectators – a world record for a women’s rugby union game.

Canada may have found the tryline first, but England quickly snapped back and pulled ahead with tries from Ellie Kildunne, Amy Cokayne, and Alex Matthews in the first half.

The second half was much the same with another try from Matthews and Abbie Ward also scoring a try, while Zoe Harrison converted all but one.

Cowboy hats, TikTok dances, a sold out Twickenham and a whole generation inspired by the Roses, it had it all.

India make history at home

Mumbai, the perfect setting for India’s women’s team to win their maiden World Cup title when they beat South Africa.

A watershed tournament on so many levels saw India engage with women’s cricket like never before, as millions tuned in to see Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Jemima Rodrigues and co triumph on home soil at the fourth time of hosting the event.

The DY Patil Stadium, with a capacity of 45,000, sold out for the final, with local fans buzzing to see history made.

And the star of the show? Twenty-one year-old batting sensation Shafali Verma, who was brought into the squad as an injury replacement.

Record-breaking football signings

In January, Chelsea made history when they signed Naomi Girma, paying over $1m for the centre-back, making her the first million-dollar player in the women’s game.

But this was only the beginning of a series of million-dollar signings in women’s football this year, with Arsenal, London City Lionesses and Orlando Pride all getting in on the action.

Olivia Smith’s move from Liverpool to Arsenal made her the first million-pound player when she was signed in July, marking a big moment for the WSL.

But just over a month later it was broken again, when Lizbeth Ovalle moved from Tigres to Orlando Pride, the reigning NWSL champions, for £1.1m ($1.5m).

Then on WSL deadline day, Grace Geyoro was signed to London City Lionesses for a rumoured fee of £1.43m ($1.93m), however Lionesses’ sources insist the deal is only worth up to £1m including add-ons.

This summer’s deadline day was especially busy with big transfers as Chelsea swooped up another star, this time it was Alyssa Thompson from Angel City.

The 20-year-old forward was signed for a fee of around £1m, becoming the third player that summer to sign for a WSL club for a fee at or above the million mark.

Acceleration of Lottie Woad

Contending in majors and winning tournaments is impressive at any age, but Lottie Woad was achieving that as an amateur before accelerating to more success in the professional ranks.

Big things were always expected of the former women’s world amateur No 1, England’s only winner of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, but Woad made more headlines by cruising to KPMG Women’s Irish Open victory while still an amateur in July.

She followed it up by finishing third at the Evian Championship, where she threatened winning a major as an amateur with a huge final-day comeback, then made a winning start to her LPGA Tour career.

Woad became just the third player ever to win their maiden LPGA Tour start, claiming a three-shot win at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open, with further success expected in 2026 as she chases a first major success and a Solheim Cup debut for Team Europe.

Beau Greaves finally gets her spotlight

In 2023, Luke Littler quickly became a household name when he took over the world of darts, but in October this year, Beau Greaves brought her name into the spotlight.

She upstaged Littler, the youngest-ever World Darts Champion, with victory in the semi-final of the World Youth Championship to stun the world of darts.

But Greaves’ success started long before then, she has been dominating the women’s circuit for years, taking three successive women’s world titles already at just 21.

This year she also accepted a deal to join the PDC Pro Tour for the next two years, creating history as just the second woman to earn a spot through the tour card system.

Netball Super League soared

The Netball Super League 2.0 launched this year, with a newly-introduced super shot which allowed players to score up to two points at a time.

But the true diamond of the season was when a record-breaking crowd piled into the O2 arena for the Grand Final, held at the iconic venue for the first time.

It saw the biggest netball crowd in England since 2002, when Manchester hosted the Commonwealth Games, with 9,326 spectators in attendance to watch London Pulse win their first title against three-peat hopefuls Loughborough Lightning.

Arsenal became Champions of Europe – again

Nearly 20 years on from their previous triumph, Arsenal won the Champions League 1-0 against defending champions Barcelona in Lisbon.

They remain the only English club to win Europe’s elite-club competition, and first to defend it after conquering Europe in 2007.

Barcelona arrived at the final as heavy favourites, having won three of the last four European titles, but a second-half strike from Stina Blackstenius was enough to lead the Gunners to glory.

Two-time Ballon d’Or winners Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas may have been dominant forces in club and country football recently, but they were unable to make an impact in Lisbon.

GB women lead Tokyo medal charge

Of the five medals won by Team GB at September’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, four were delivered by women.

After a medal-less first half of the championships, Team GB announced themselves in style when Amy Hunt broke through in a stacked 200m final to shock the world and claim silver.

Then on the penultimate day, two-time world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson crossed the line after a gruelling two days of competition, that ended with a shattering 800m, to take heptathlon bronze.

For the first time in World or Olympic history, it saw two heptathlon athletes finish on the exact same number of points, as Johnson-Thompson shared bronze with Taliyah Brooks of the USA.

Then the final day came, Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson and her training partner, 1500m Olympic bronze medallist, Georgia Hunter-Bell battled it out over 800m, taking bronze and silver respectively.

A’ja Wilson supremacy skyrocketed

The Las Vegas Aces soared to their third WNBA Championship in four years with a clean sweep in the Finals over Phoenix Mercury, with star A’ja Wilson taking her second finals MVP title.

But that’s not it for the Aces star, she also claimed titles of WNBA MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, All-Defensive First Team, All-Star Honors, WNBA Peak Performer, Scoring Champion, and Blocks Leader.

Wilson also reached another milestone in May when she headlined her own basketball shoe with Nike, the A’One, which also went viral for its unique ad that celebrated black girlhood.

Her impact has been so significant for the women’s game, with LeBron James even crediting her for the role model she is to young girls, his daughter included.

“A’ja Wilson is the definition of female black excellence,” James said. “I am so grateful she is giving my daughter the kind of inspiration I got from Michael Jordan and Ken Griffey.”

We also saw record broadcast and social media figures in 2025, showing the demand for women’s sport is there, and it’s growing.

So, let’s see what 2026 has in store for women’s sports!