Hosts England will take on Austria at Old Trafford in the 2022 UEFA Women's EURO opener tomorrow ©Getty Images

Hosts England will take on Austria at Old Trafford as the 2022 UEFA Women's EURO gets underway tomorrow, with a record-breaking 500,000 tickets already sold for the tournament.

A total of 16 nations will try to become the champions of Europe over the next three weeks with the final set to be held at the Wembley Stadium on July 31.

Norway and Norther Ireland join the hosts and Austria in group A while Spain, Finland, Germany and Denmark will fight it out in group B.

Defending champions The Netherlands are in group C with Portugal, Switzerland, and Sweden.

The final group D will feature France, Italy, Belgium, and Iceland.

There is a lot of pressure for England to deliver with the Lionesses in stellar form after the arrival of Sarina Wiegman as head coach last year.

England are on a 14-game unbeaten run under the Dutch coach, who knows a thing or two about winning the tournament, after helping her nation to victory on home soil five years ago.

Austria, who lost to England when they met in World Cup qualifying in November, will be hoping to cause an upset in the opener.

Group A opponents and two-time winners Norway will be looking at former Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg for inspiration, while Northern Ireland are set for their debut in the tournament.

In what is potentially the group of death, Spain with a strong squad featuring FC Barcelona Femení players, who were dominating club football until losing the Champions League final to Lyon in May, will be the team to beat.

Eight-time winners Germany are nowhere near their best and have had a forgettable few months, including a 3-2 loss to Serbia in the World Cup qualifier in April.

Chelsea’s Pernille Harder will lead 2017 finalists Denmark in group B.

With Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema and Lieke Martens of Paris Saint-Germain up front, the holders have arguably the best attack of the tournament.

Sweden, the highest-ranked team in the tournament, will rely on Chelsea’s Magdalena Eriksson, Kosovare Asllani of AC Milan and Barcelona’s Fridolina Rolfo.

Portugal who replaced Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine, will have to cause an upset along with Switzerland, if they are to reach the knockout stage.  

France, with Lyon players riding high on confidence, will start as favourites despite not even making it to the last-four at EURO.

Italy, on the other hand, will be keen on building from the quarter-final finish at the 2019 World Cup with Iceland and Belgium standing in the way.