England 1-1 AET (3-1 on pens) Spain
The defending champions and the world champions could just not be separated after 120 minutes of gruelling, draining football.
It was always going to happen, wasn’t it?
And so the climax of Women’s Euro 2025 went all the way to the death and left one nation elated and the other beyond despair.
Who’d have thought so many Euro 2025 highlights could be packed into one encounter. Certainly not this SBOTOP observer.
I had commented pre-match that whoever triumphed could justifiably claim to the best women’s football team in the world.
That is not disputed now. England are champions of Europe – again.
Highlights of the game
The Lionesses had shown their toughness on a number of occasions in recent years, not least the final of the tournament three years ago when they were crowned European champions on home soil, the winner coming from a certain Chloe Kelly.
Yet this was a shot at redemption as far as they were concerned.
A chance to avenge their World Cup Final defeat at the hands of Spain two years ago and defend their European crown against an eye-catching Spanish team looking to complete a treble of major trophies of their own, having also won the Nations League in 2024.
A meeting between two well-respected bosses.
Montse Tome was Jorge Vild’s assistant in 2023, meaning the coaching setup and philosophy has stayed much the same.
Meanwhile, England manager Sarina Wiegman’s record spoke for itself as the only boss in the men’s or women’s game to have reached the final at all five major tournaments she has coached in.
She led Holland to Euro 2017 and the World Cup final in 2019, before doing the same with England at Euro 2022 and the 2023 World Cup.
Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham said before the final that she was “not for sale at any price”. That figure will be even higher now.
The Euro 2025 betting odds quite rightly made Spain favourites but the strength of character within the ranks of the Lionesses was a potent weapon in their armoury.
A slick Spanish move was rewarded 25 minutes in when Ona Batlle overlapped and delivered a superb cross for Mariona Caldentey to firmly head home.
At times the world champions were overwhelming their opponents in many areas of the pitch, prompted by their superb captain Aitani Bonmati, later named player of the tournament.
However, that weapon I referred to was evident 12 minutes after the restart via a combination of tireless work and a headed finish. When England drove forward into space, substitute Chloe Kelly, a replacement for Lauren James (forced off with injury after only nine touches), crossed expertly and Alessia Russo’s head put England on level terms.
Spain remained the better side and Esther Gonzalez, who won the tournament’s Golden Boot with four goals, would have put them back in front but for a fine block from alert goalkeeper Hannah Hampton.
It wasn’t all one-sided though and her compatriot Cata Coll was busy and brilliantly kept out Lauren Hemp before a finger-tip save denied Kelly.
A heart-in-mouth moment for England arrived at the end of first half extra time when Bonmati threaded the ball through to Batlle whose ball was ideal for Salma Paralluelo only for the substitute to get her footing all wrong.
And so it went to penalties. Yes, the majority of spot-kicks were poor on both sides – this tournament has shown that is one notable area for improvement– but one person whose spot-kick could not be criticised was the nerveless Kelly.
England’s heroine in 2022 is a European champion – again!
Key statistics
Wiegman has become the third manager to win three consecutive women’s Euros titles after Germany duo Gero Bisanz (1989, 1991, 1995) and Tina Theune (1997, 2001, 2005).
The Lionesses won Euro 2025 despite leading for just four minutes and 52 seconds in the entire knockout stages of the tournament (including stoppage time).
England have won all four of their penalty shootouts under Wiegman, with Kelly netting the winning spot kick in three of those.
What’s next?
While that rounds off the women’s season, Spain will be back in important action in little over two months’ time.
A two-legged Nations League semi-final is scheduled for October 24 and 28 against Sweden.
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