England – Champions of Europe (again!)

Photo: Stephen Gormley (Red Eye Photo Agency)

England defeated Spain on penalties to win the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 Championship and retain the title they won in 2022

The final was played in Basel, Switzerland in front of a full house of over 35,000 fans to see the two current giants of women’s football go head to head.

Spain started well with a lot of possession of the ball. England stayed in good shape while now and again hitting Spain on the break. England almost took the lead early on when a defensive mistake let in Lauren Hemp but Cata Coll in goal for Spain produced an excellent save with her left foot to force the ball wide.

Spain then took the lead after 25 minutes when a cross was headed by Caldentey back across into the top corner of the goal. She ran straight to the Spanish fans to celebrate with her teammates behind the goal. It looked like Spain were going to take full control of the game. They opened up England on three or four occasions in the first half, but Hampton in the England net kept her team in the match.

In the second half it was once again Spain with 65% of possession. However it’s all about putting the ball in the back of the net at the end of the day. That’s exactly what Russo did for England on the 57th minute, a beautiful ball swung in from Kelly which Russo headed into the corner of the net. Coll could only admire the ball floating over her into the top corner of the Spanish net to make it 1-1 on the night.

The match continued on into extra time after the tie was level at 90 minutes. In extra time Spain again were the team with the ball but the English defence stayed compact and Hampton did what she had to do in the net to keep Spain under control to bring it to a penalty shoot out.

The toss was won by England, so the penalties were taken down to their end. Mead took the first one for England, but slipped and ended up double kicking the ball so had to take the penalty again after a VAR review. Her second attempt was saved well by Coll’s left hand.

Guijarro stepped up and fired it down the middle to make it 1-0 to Spain. Greenwood then made it 1-1. Caldentey then had her effort saved by the brilliant Hampton. Charles fired it into the net to make it 2-1 to England. Bonmati stepped up and Hampton sprung to her right to save two in a row. England’s captain Willamson’s effort was then saved well by Cata Coll to keep it at 2-1. Next up for Spain was Paralluelo who hit her penalty just wide of the post. So it was Chole Kelly with the chance for England to win the European Championship. She lashed it home to make it 3-1 on penalties and no way back for the World Champions Spain. Great scenes of celebrations and of course sweet Caroline over the speakers.

England hung in there and regained their European crown. For England manager, Serena Wiegman, it was three in a row of European titles – a lady with the magic managerial touch. The English ladies brought it home again, with a lot of help from their great goalkeeper throughout the tournament. The victory was also sweet for the Lionesses as they managed to avenge their FIFA World Cup defeat to Spain in Sydney, Australia in 2023