Double delight for England at 2025 European Team Championships

England won the men's and women's titles in stunning style at the 2025 European Team Championships in Wroclaw, Poland.

The men's team took the European title for the fifth year in a row, and 45th overall, once again consigning France to the runners-up position with a 3-1 victory.

England's women reclaimed the title from last year's champions Belgium thanks to a 2-1 victory sealed by a superb performance by Jasmine Hutton against world no.13 Nele Gilis-Coll.

For the men, sensational 19-year-old debutant Jonah Bryant and world no.33 Curtis Malik were unbeaten all week, while Mohamed and Marwan ElShorbagy proved there's still plenty of life left in the energy tank, especially playing for England.

It was 25-year-old Malik who set the ball rolling in the final courtesy of a 7-11, 11-5, 11-2, 17-15 win over Auguste Dussord in an occasionally fractious encounter.

Mohamed then faced Victor Crouin in a rematch from last year's tempestuous duel in Uster. Although the Englishman took the first, world no.15 Crouin hit back to go 2-1 ahead. The former world no.1 found an extra gear in the fourth, but Crouin played flawlessly in the decider to take it 7-11, 11-6, 11-5, 4-11, 11-6 and level the match.

Bryant then displayed his thrilling movement, racket work and retrieval skills in a 11-4, 11-5, 3-11, 11-8 triumph against Baptiste Masotti, putting England 8-5 ahead in games and meaning Marwan only needed to win a single game to clinch the title, which he duly did 11-9 against Gregoire Marche.

'Sweet Caroline' boomed out over the Hasta La Vista Club speakers and both squads huddled together for a celebratory dance.

Bryant said: "I definitely learned a lot in the first few days playing the lower-ranked teams in the pool stages and I think I peaked for the final. We'll have a nice celebration now, but not too much as we have the World Championships next week.

"It's been so great this week being with Mohamed, Marwan, Tom and Curtis and hopefully we'll do the same again next year."

England's women earlier wrestled the trophy back from Belgium and, just as in Helsinki two years ago, Jasmine Hutton was England's match-clinching hero on the anchor leg.

Firstly, no.1 Georgina Kennedy was defeated by her close friend Tinne Gilis in a 64-minute epic opener. The 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist dug in to win the second game 11-8 after losing the first. The third slipped away 11-6 and the 28-year-old held two game balls in the fourth, but a terrific match ultimately went to Gilis 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 14-12.

Sarah-Jane Perry, making her 100th appearance for her country, soon equalised for England via an 11-6, 11-6, 11-0 victory over teenager Chloé Crabbé in only 19 minutes.

In a tension-wracked finale, Hutton won two very tight opening games on tiebreaks. The third also went deep, and some phenomenal retrieval toward the end from Belgium's world no.13 sealed it 11-9 to cut Hutton's lead in half.

The fourth disappeared rapidly as errors mounted, sending the match into a decider. Crucially, Hutton seized an early 3-0 lead and Gilis-Coll couldn't get a foothold thereafter.

Hutton's 12-10, 12-10, 9-11, 3-11, 11-6 win was sealed with a Gilis-Coll error and England's Brighton-born star took a few moments at the tin to let the achievement sink in.

Describing the experience as "torture" Jasmine added:

"Nele is an incredible athlete but she's also a master fighter. Even though I went 2-0 up I knew it was still going to be a massive dogfight at that point. She made it so tough.

"To come through in the fifth after dropping the two games before that was really impressive on my behalf, to re-set and become more composed again."

On getting an early foothold in the fifth game, she reflected: "It was crucial. Nick [Matthew] just told me that in those first five points I hit four winners in the back left. That was a huge confidence boost for me, especially as I made so many errors in the fourth game."

Asked to rank the match among her all-time performances, she said: "Joint top with Helsinki a few years ago. That was my second Europeans and it felt like I won it for the team [by playing the decider] so this is up there with my career highlights."