After both teams were taken to extra-time in their semi-finals, England and Spain are set to meet once again, this time in the final of the UEFA Women’s European Championship. It’s a repeat of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup final, and with the title on the line, it promises to be a tense and exciting showdown.
England’s journey to the final hasn’t been smooth. They edged past Sweden in the quarter-finals after a dramatic penalty shootout, and needed a 119th-minute winner to beat Italy in the semis. The Lionesses have shown great determination and character along the way. As manager Sarina Wiegman prepares for her fifth straight major international final, England will go into this match as slight underdogs and will be hoping to get revenge for their loss to Spain in last year’s World Cup final.
Spain also had to dig deep in their semi-final, needing extra-time to beat Germany 1-0. That victory continued an outstanding run, with La Roja scoring 17 goals so far in the tournament, a number only bettered by two other teams in Euro history, one of which was England in 2022. Having already won the World Cup and Nations League in the past two years, Spain are on the verge of completing a historic treble. With ten straight wins behind them, they’ll be full of confidence heading into their first ever Euros final.
Spain’s winning streak came after a 1-0 loss to England in the Nations League earlier this year, and while England have a slightly better overall record in meetings between the two sides, Spain won their most recent clash in June, 2-1. This will be the fourth European Championship in a row where these two teams face off, with England winning the last two encounters at this tournament.
Recent form shows that both sides like to attack. Six of England’s last eight competitive matches have seen both teams score, and they’ve gone behind in three of their five games at this Euros. Spain, on the other hand, have won nine of their last ten matches by more than one goal and have had over 20 shots in each of their five games in the tournament so far.
Chloe Kelly, who scored the winner in the last Euros final, has made a big impact from the bench again this time around, scoring twice and setting up another in England’s last two games. Spain will be looking to their star midfielder Aitana Bonmatí, who assisted in the quarter-final and scored the decisive goal against Germany.
England could be without Lauren James, who picked up an ankle injury against Italy, while Spain have no major injury concerns going into the final.
