The last time England hosted the Women’s European Championship, only one part of England really saw any of it, writes Northern Football Correspondent Mark Critchley.

The eight-team tournament in 2005 was played entirely within the confines of the North West, stretching as far north as Blackpool’s Bloomfield Road but no further south than the Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington. Germany ran out 3-1 winners against Norway at Ewood Park in front of a crowd of 21,105. England finished bottom of their group, by the way.

Seventeen years later, the next three-and-a-half weeks promise to demonstrate how much has changed since. It all begins in the North West once again – England host Austria at Old Trafford in tonight’s curtain-raiser – and although there is strangely no North East representation, the 10 venues stretch from Leigh down to Brighton, and the tournament will culminate in a Wembley final that has already sold all 87,200 tickets. More than 500,000 have been sold across all of the games.

That is not only a record but double the total sold for the last Euros in the Netherlands five years ago. The worldwide broadcast audience for the 2017 tournament hit 178 million but that too is set to be comfortably surpassed. Whereas Channel 4’s live coverage largely focused on the fate of the home nations then, every match will be available to watch across the BBC’s platforms now. This will be the biggest Euros yet, demonstrating the rapid pace of the game’s progress. And so, it is perhaps only right to stop and take a breath.

A quick peek inside the England dressing room. We’re less than 30 minutes from kick-off at Euro 2022 now.

Old Trafford will be rocking this evening, with a capacity crowd expected - more than 70,000 people.

Can that home advantage inspire the Lionesses to a famous victory?

Some more pre-match Opta facts that will give Austria a bit of hope. They were very impressive in the last European Championships four years ago, to be fair.

- England have won their opening game at just three of their previous eight UEFA Women’s European Championship tournaments (D1 L4), although they did win 6-0 against Scotland in their first match at the 2017 edition.

- Austria have never lost a match at the Women’s European Championships, avoiding defeat in all five games in 2017 (W2 D3), although they were eliminated on penalties in that year’s semi-final against Denmark after a goalless draw.

- At the 2017 Euros, Austria conceded the fewest goals of any nation (one) and kept the joint most clean sheets (four, level with the Netherlands). They’ve kept a clean sheet in 80% of their games (4/5), the best ratio of any nation in the history of the tournament. England, meanwhile, have only kept five clean sheets in 28 matches (18%).

- Austria didn’t fall behind for a single minute in their 2017 Women’s Euros campaign, the only nation to not trail for a single minute at that edition of the tournament. They were the first nation to go through a tournament without falling behind since Germany in 2005 and the first to do so in a tournament without winning the trophy (eliminated on penalties).

- Austria goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger saved 21 of the 22 shots on target she faced at the 2017 Euros (95.5%), the second-best save percentage at the tournament behind only England’s Karen Bardsley (100%, saved all six shots on target faced).

Some pre-match facts for you this evening, courtesy of Opta. They make good reading for England fans...

- This is the eighth meeting between England and Austria in all competitions, with the Lionesses winning all seven previous games, scoring 22 goals and conceding just once.

- Austria are yet to score against England on English soil in four previous games against the Lionesses, with each game taking place at a different venue: 0-4 in April 2006 at the Priestfield Stadium, 0-3 in March 2010 at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, 0-3 in April 2017 at Stadium MK and 0-1 in November 2021 at the Stadium of Light.

- England manager Sarina Wiegman won the Euros in 2017 with the Netherlands, winning all six of their games that year. She’s the only manager to have a 100%-win ratio in the competition.

- England are hosting the Euros for the first time since 2005 when, despite winning their opening match 3-2 against Finland, they were eliminated at the group stage after losing against Denmark and Sweden in their next two group games, finishing bottom of the group.

- Since the group stage was introduced for the 1997 edition with Sweden and Norway joint hosts, the hosts of the Women’s EUROs have never lost their opening match of the tournament (W6 D1). Two of the four defeats by host nations at the group stage were suffered by England in the 2005 edition.

It’s an incredibly strong-looking England team that Sarina Wiegman has named. Will be interesting to see whether the Lionesses opt for a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 - the personnel selected give them the opportunity to do either.

In the former, Georgia Stanway, Kiera Walsh and Fran Kirby would be the midfield three but the latter would likely see Kirby push on as the pivot or No 10 in the 4-2-3-1 behind Ellen White.

Great options on the bench as well with Chloe Kelly equally impressive as Beth Mead in the warm-ups and Alessia Russo proving herself to be an able deputy to White.

Austria have named their side for this evening’s match as well.

Austria XI: Zinsberger, Wienroither, Wenninger, Schnaderbeck, Hanshaw, Puntigam, Dunst, Zadrazil, Feiersinger, Naschenweng, Billa

And here is the England team news

England XI: Earps, Bronze, Bright, Williamson, Daly, Stanway, Walsh, Mead, Kirby, Hemp, White

Subs: Greenwood, Carter, Hampton, Stokes, Scott, Parris, Kelly, England, Toone, Roebuck, Wubben-Moy, Russo

As we switch our attention more fully to tonight’s match, England are ready to make history on home turf. Team news should be along imminently.

Lyon’s win in May marked an eighth Champions League triumph for their skipper Renard, who also captains France.

One of the great centre-backs of her generation, the 31-year-old heads into the Euros with more than 130 international appearances to her name and an impressive record of 33 goals for Les Bleues.