Few could have predicted the rollercoaster of emotions England would take us on across five games, and trying to guess an outcome of a mouthwatering final between the European Championship holders and World Cup winners is futile as a result.
The uneven development of women’s football across the world has meant lasting rivalries are rare but we have a genuine one evolving with England and Spain. At a time when the top of the game has moved away from being a financial arms race and is being settled increasingly by the details, these teams’ meetings exemplify that.
For a long time relatively small investment or commitment could make a significant difference. Now the fine margins, the quality of staffing and the strength of the pathway into senior international football hold far greater sway.
Ramped-up investment helped England to a first major title in 2022, the alignment of resource and staffing and the quality of the playing group being no coincidence. The team overachieved at the 2015 World Cup in relation to the level of support, reaching the semi-finals. At Euro 2017 and the Women’s World Cup in 2019 the investment and support were increasing, but it was around the 2022 home Euros that almost nothing was too much. That the team have now reached three successive finals is also no coincidence.
The finer margins are keeping England’s nose ahead, an attention to the detail, whatever the cost. In Switzerland, England are in one of the finest and most luxurious hotels. Everything has been put in place to make the playing group as at ease as possible. Everything is branded, from the media room to the parasols that the players lounge under, to the Lionesses’ Yorkshire Tea. It is a home from home. There is even a “coffee dog” as Keira Walsh refers to him, called Reggie, brought along by their own barista. No other national team at the Euros is competing with this.
It contrasts so sharply with the environment the players have faced on the pitch. This has been far from a cruise for England. It has been uncomfortable, gruelling and has tested their grit over and over again. Cats may have nine lives, but apparently lionesses can’t die.
Quick Guide
England v Spain: past three meetings
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Spain 2-1 England, 3 June 2025, Barcelona
England were knocked out of the Nations League after going ahead through Alessia Russo in the 21st minute. In the second half, Spain’s Clàudia Pina made an instant impact from the bench, scoring two minutes after coming on, then doubling her tally 10 minutes later as Spain secured victory. The Lionesses would have qualified for the semi-finals at Spain’s expense with a win.
England 1-0 Spain, 26 Feb 2025, London
A Wembley crowd of 46,550 watched England defeat Spain in the teams’ first meeting since the World Cup final, in Nations League A Group 3. Jess Park’s 33rd-minute goal secured victory for the Lionesses. Lucía García’s first-half attempt that rattled the crossbar and second-half chances for the winger Salma Paralluelo were the highlights of Spain’s attacking play but England held on.
Spain 1-0 England, 20 August 2023, Sydney
Spain became world champions with a dominant performance. Lauren Hemp hit the bar from outside of the box early on but that was the pinnacle of England’s first-half chances and Olga Carmona ensured Spain went into the break ahead with a clinical finish past Mary Earps. Earps produced a fantastic 70th-minute penalty save from Jenni Hermoso and made further stops to keep England in the game but Spain deserved their win. Eze Obasi
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Spain, though, are Spain. They cannot compete when it comes to a top-to-bottom commitment to women’s football from their federation. However, they can compete on the pitch and then some, the tiki-taka approach drilled into the players from the earliest of ages, the players growing up living the style of football that becomes so instinctive it is woven into the fabric of who they are. Trying to dominate the ball against them becomes as pointless as running for a bus that left five minutes ago.
Two-time Euros winner Sarina Wiegman is England’s golden egg. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
On Sunday, at St Jakob-Park in Basel, England will have to lean on the fine margins where they have the advantage: on the extra day of recovery, on the quality of the conditioning and psychological staff and on their golden egg, a manager and assistant manager, in Sarina Wiegman and Arjan Veurink, who are arguably the best in the world. It will take tactical nous to overcome a team dripping with talent and built on a clear football identity.
This dynamic between the sides has made for the most thrilling of developing rivalries. It has helped that both have had success against the other. England’s greatest triumph in 2022 came after Wiegman’s side came from behind against Spain in the quarter-finals, Ella Toone’s goal in the 84th minute and Georgia Stanway’s in extra time the difference. That was a Spain without Alexia Putellas, the team robbed of their captain on the eve of the tournament after she sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury. At the World Cup in 2023, Spain’s first major trophy, Putellas was not fully back, reduced to cameos off the bench, her recovery lengthy, Aitana Bonmatí at the forefront in her absence.
There have been more recent clashes too, a perfect defensive display and Jess Park’s goal earning England a 1-0 win in the Nations League in February, Spain’s last defeat. Spain got the better of England in June’s return, Clàudia Pina’s double decisive after Alessia Russo’s opening goal.
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Jess Park scored the winner for England in February – the last time Spain lost a game. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
England have the blueprint for what it takes to beat Spain from that Wembley win, but they are missing a key defensive ingredient in Millie Bright. Whether Leah Williamson and Esme Morgan’s fledgling centre-back partnership can deliver perfection remains to be seen and there is no greater test.
Williamson, and the other Arsenal Lionesses, know how to couple underdog status and togetherness with a tactical masterclass against a Spanish team, the Gunners achieving a stunning victory over Barcelona in May in the Women’s Champions League final. The defence delivered, the back four not conceding a foul.
Spain are not infallible. They conceded three times in the group stage, were frustrated for periods in their quarter-final against Switzerland and a depleted Germany forced them into extra time in the semi-final. The genius of Bonmatí helped earn their place in the final, the midfielder’s knowledge that the goalkeeper, Ann-Katrin Berger, sometimes comes away from her near post exploited in style.
The level of Bonmatí’s talent is evident in the tactical breakdown of the 2023 World Cup final she recorded for Sports Illustrated. It shows a level of in-game awareness that only the elite possess. England will need to be disciplined in every area to stop their chief wizard and her fellow sorcerers. Can they? Absolutely. Will they? We’ll know as the sun sets on Sunday.