GENEVA: Soccer great Pia Sundhage’s long international career stretches back a decade beyond the first Women’s European Championship she won decisively for Sweden in 1984.

Now aged 65, the two-time Olympic title-winning coach — both times for the United States — is preparing host nation Switzerland’s team to kick off Euro 2025 next Wednesday.

“I would say it’s the biggest challenge I have ever had,” said Sundhage, who has coached in a World Cup final, three Olympic gold-medal games and a Copa América final. “It is really, really interesting.”

Her first tournament coaching the Swiss is 41 years after the inaugural Euros was won in conditions that seem more than a lifetime ago for women’s soccer.

In 1984, the four-team UEFA competition was home-and-away semifinals and final, with second legs played weeks after the first in games of 70 minutes, not 90. The title was won in England with fewer than 3,000 fans in the stadium and no national television coverage.

Sweden beat England in a penalty shootout after each won the home leg 1-0. At the muddy, rain-soaked home field of Luton Town, Sundhage added to her first-leg goal to score the winning spot-kick, captured in fuzzy footage of the game.

The Swedish champions got home to find their victory celebrated in a rare two-page newspaper spread.