The UEFA Women's Championship is a regular tournament involving European national teams from countries affiliated to UEFA, the European governing body, who have qualified for the competition.

[1] The competition aims to determine which national women's team is the best in Europe.

[2] Germany won the competition for the second time in a row and 4th overall (counting with West Germany's victory in the former European Competition for Representative Women's Teams).

France, Spain and Russia made their debuts for the first time.

1997 saw a change in the tournament format as an eight-team final stage was introduced.