Later today, the 2022 UEFA European Women's Football Championship will get underway, with England facing Austria in Manchester for the tournament's opening match. Known in short as Euro 2022, the competition features 16 of the continent's best national teams. With most having had to fly in, let's see how they did it.

Norway

Starting off with another one of England's Group A opponents, the Norwegian squad flew from Oslo to London Heathrow on July 3rd. They did so onboard an SAS Airbus A320neo registered as EI-SIK. According to data from ch-aviation.com, this 180-seat twinjet is almost brand new, having only first taken to the skies in April.

The idea of an SAS A320neo flying from Oslo to London isn't especially remarkable, given that this is a key route for the airline. However, looking at data from Flightradar24.com, we can see that these flights usually have a three-digit flight number beginning with 8. Meanwhile, the Norwegian team flew in on flight SK7109, hinting that this may have been a specially arranged flight for the team.

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The A320neo is a common sight on SAS's European routes. Photo: Airbus

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Northern Ireland

The Norwegian team will open their Euro 2022 campaign tomorrow evening, when they take on Northern Ireland in Southampton. Their opponents made use of an Aurigny ATR 72-600 to reach the English South Coast, flying in from Belfast on July 4th. Registered as G-ORAI, this 2.55-year-old turboprop has 72 economy class seats.

Spain

Moving into Group B, the Spanish national team came to England onboard an Airbus A319 belonging to flag carrier Iberia. Registered as EC-JEI, this 17.64-year-old, 141-seat twinjet is named after Spanish businessman Horacio Echevarrieta. The aircraft flew from Madrid to Naples on July 3rd, where it picked the team up and continued to London with them onboard.

Finland

Spain's opponents in the Group B curtain-raiser, which takes place in Brentford, West London on Friday afternoon, are Finland. The Finnish national team had a rather interesting journey to England, as they made use of Estonian carrier NyxAir to fly from Enschede to London Luton, following a match in the Netherlands.

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The Finnish team's flight onboard NyxAir's Saab 2000 took just over an hour. Photo: Anna Zvereva via Flickr

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The flight took place on July 4th, with the aircraft used being a Saab 2000 registered as ES-NSE. This 50-seat turboprop is 27.43 years old, having entered service with Deutsche BA back in 1995. It has flown for NyxAir since 2020.

Sweden

Moving into Group C, Sweden will be involved in one of Euro 2022's most hotly-anticipated matches on Saturday evening, facing the Netherlands at Sheffield United's Bramall Lane stadium. Ranked among the favorites to win the tournament, the team traveled in style from Stockholm to Manchester onboard a VIP-configured Air Horizont Boeing 737-400. Registered as 9H-MPW, it has just 70 seats.

Harder to tell

For some teams, the nature of their journeys to England has been harder to ascertain. For the Netherlands, we can see that their aircraft was fitted with special antimacassars with the team's logo, but the aircraft and carrier were unclear.

However, thanks to a tip-off from Simple Flying reader Matthias Lascher, we have since learned that the plane in question was a TUI Boeing 737-800. Registered as G-TAWU, this twinjet flew from Amsterdam to Manchester yesterday afternoon.

Meanwhile, from the images shared by the German team, we can at least tell, from the reflections in the bus windows that the two-time world champions flew to the tournament with Lufthansa's low-cost subsidiary Eurowings. However, the exact registration of the aircraft is also difficult to determine.

UPDATE: 2022/07/06 14:57 UTC BY JAKE HARDIMAN

Brussels Airlines Deploys Specially-Liveried Jet

Earlier today, as reported by aviation24.be, the Belgian team flew to Manchester on a specially-liveried Airbus A320 registered as OO-SNA and named 'Trident.' The 'Red Flames' will kick off their campaign against Iceland on Sunday, before also facing France and Italy on July 14th and 18th.

In any case, the teams will be hoping to stay in the tournament, and thus in England, for as long as possible. With any luck, it'll be a while before they have to fly home!

What do you make of the squad's flying arrangements for Euro 2022? Have you ever come across a sports team on your travels? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!