Ella Toone pays heartfelt tribute to her father after winning Euros

Ella Toone thanked her late father for his role in helping her get to where she is after winning Euro 2025 with England.

Toone’s father died last year shortly before his 60th birthday and after helping the Lionesses to win the competition, she paid a heartfelt tribute to him.

“I was asked who got us here today and I said my dad,” she said.

“That was definitely my sign tonight. There was a spare seat next to my mum and he was obviously there.

“They’ll be so proud of us and these are the times you want to spend with your family so it’s a little bit bittersweet but we know they’d want us to party hard and enjoy the moment so that’s what we’ll do.”

Remarkably, the Lionesses led for a total of just four minutes and 52 seconds across three knockout games.

England also beat Sweden on penalties and Italy in extra-time on their way to the final and Toone praised the collective mentality of the England group.

“My emotions are everywhere, it’s not sunk in,” she said. “I felt every single emotion out there tonight. We should be really proud of ourselves. We’re back to back European Champions. Unbelievable feeling.

“We wanted to win so bad. We’ve been the same throughout this tournament, we’ve relied on every single player.

“Players who’ve come on and changed the game, starting eleven players who’ve worked their socks off. It was an amazing feeling and everyone grafted today. We deserved the win.”

It is the second time that a lot of the Lionesses squad, including Toone, have won the Euros.

But the midfielder said it still feels as good as the first time around: “I don’t know, I still feel all the same emotions as I did then. When you’re back to back it’s a mad feeling. We’ve never done it before, history makers. Best feeling in the world.”