Dutch women’s football kick off Euro tournament against Sweden tonight

The Dutch women’s national football team will begin their quest for the European championship against Sweden on Saturday night. The match will be played in Sheffield, England with kick-off set for 9 p.m.

Defender Dominique Janssen and attacker Lineth Beerensteyn might not be available to play for national coach Mark Parsons. Both players were slightly injured in the run-up to the opening game against Sweden. Portugal and Switzerland are the other opponents in the group.

Oranje is the defending champion at the event. However, they were not predicted to be the tournament favorites.

Earlier this week, just before the start of the tournament, data agency Gracenote gave the English football players the best chance of becoming the new European champions. England is coached by the Dutch team’s former trainer, Sarina Wiegman. Gracenote pegged the host nation as the favorite due to the home advantage. The Dutch football players were ranked fourth.

The data agency gave England a 21 percent chance of winning the tournament based on about 1 million simulations of the course of the European Championship. Sweden, the Dutch squad’s first opponent, was the runner-up in the data, with an 18 percent chance.

Oranje has a 12 percent chance of becoming champions of Europe again, according to Gracenote. With a 15 percent chance, France is slightly ahead of the Netherlands. Germany (11 percent) and Spain (9 percent) were also ranked high.

However, the data also showed Sweden vs. the Netherlands as the most likely final match of the tournament, followed by England vs. France and England vs. Germany.

Gracenote has calculated numerous scenarios for the European Championship based on the world rankings. England is in eighth place in that FIFA ranking.