Wilkinson relief as Wales win to remove 'burden'

Head coach Rhian Wilkinson said it was a relief to finish 2025 on a high as Wales ended their 12-game winless streak with a 3-2 friendly victory over Switzerland.

Sophie Ingle, Hannah Cain and Lily Woodham scored as Wales beat the Euro 2025 quarter-finalists in the Spanish city of Jerez.

After the second-longest run without a victory in their history, Wales held on to register a first win since their European Championship play-off final success against the Republic of Ireland almost 12 months ago to the day.

"I can pretend all I want that the string of results, the questions I have had to answer, haven't bothered me," Wilkinson said.

"But it is a burden. One of the players said 'now you don't have to answer the question'. It's true.

"It's nice to end [the year] with a win against a very good team who gave it their all. I don't have much to say other than I am really proud."

Wales had suffered nine defeats during their winless sequence, with two draws coming against Sweden in the Nations League in the spring before a third in last Friday's friendly with South Korea in Malaga.

Wilkinson's team were beaten twice in the Nations League by both Denmark and Italy, before a disappointing Euro 2025 campaign ended at the group stage after comprehensive defeats by the Netherlands, France and England.

Wales lost narrowly to Australia in a friendly which marked the end of star player Jess Fishlock's international career in October, before they were beaten heavily in another friendly by Poland in Newport.

Wilkinson was unhappy with many aspects of her team's performance against the Poles, but her mood was entirely different after Wales toppled Switzerland.

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'This is a really good team'

Former Canada defender Wilkinson said her players "absolutely rose to the occasion" against opponents ranked 24th in the world by Fifa, eight places higher than Wales.

"I think every game we've played this year has been against teams that are ranked higher than us," she added.

"But we've been going toe-to-toe for a while now and knocking on the door, and this was the performance we needed, especially at the end of a tough year.

"Everyone's brought up our recent string of results and I understand that, but equally you can see that this is a team that is almost unrecognisable, I would say, because of how confident they are on the ball.

"This is a really good team and, as soon as they start believing that, I think we'll be in a great spot."

Wales return to action in March, when their bid to qualify for the 2027 World Cup will start with a trip to the Czech Republic and a home fixture against Montenegro.

They will also face Albania in Nations League Group B1, which doubles up as the first stage of World Cup qualifying.