England, the defending European champions, take the crown again. The back-to-back champions earn Head Coach Sarina Wiegman her third Euros title in a row after winning with the Dutch in 2017 and England in 2022. Seemingly against the odds, the British did what they needed to do to win the tournament by taking the World Champions, Spain, all the way to penalties and edging them out at the very end.
Wiegman made a couple of changes to the starting XI by switching sides for Lauren James and Lauren Hemp on the wings and reinjecting Jess Carter into the backline for Esme Morgan. Spain’s Head Coach put Athenea del Castillo in on the right wing for Claudia Pina and Laia Aleixandri returned from suspension to take her place in center defense.
Both teams came to the final looking up to the challenge. It was a long, hard-fought battle but Spain walked away with the lion’s share of the momentum, possession, xG, shots, and box touches. Spain’s only goal came in the first half from a beautiful cross from Ona Batlle for Mariona Caldentey to head into the back of the net.
However, as the game carried on and Spain seemed unable to capitalize on the rest of their chances, England grew more confident in absorbing the pressure and trying to choose their moments going forward. Spain’s backline seemed to power down for a moment when Chloe Kelly’s ball found Alessia Russo’s head for the equalizer in the 57th minute.
The two teams stayed level through regulation and additional time. Goalkeeper Hannah Hampton had a great game keeping England in the game to get to a shootout. The rest of the defense put in a solid shift against Spain’s lethal attack. Particularly Carter, which was nice to see as partway through the tournament, she had to take to social media to decry the racial abuse she had been receiving from “fans” online for her performances earlier in the tournament. Youngsters for Spain Salma Paralluelo and Vicky López each had chances throughout additional time but none were converted. The Euros 2025 then came to its third and final penalty shootout where Hampton continued to come up big for England. Of course, it had to be Kelly to take the final kick to win the title for England.
What a year it has been for Chloe Kelly. She was benched throughout much of the WSL season at Manchester City. On the brink of taking a break from football, she took to social media to advocate for herself which led to her loan to Arsenal being completed. From there she became a key piece for the Gunners in their Champions League run where they emerged victorious over Barcelona. Now, in excellent form, she was one of England’s heroes in this tournament. European Champion for both club and country.
Spain will be disappointed that they did not walk away with the title this time. They were good for it, but similar to their game against Germany, it seemed like their ability to get a winner waned with the minutes. Unfortunately for them, this time no one stepped up to put the team on their back to get them over the line. In this tournament, it felt like unless they could build a lead quickly at the beginning, Spain struggled whereas England would grow more powerful as games dragged along. This seemingly newfound rivalry between England and Spain will be on to keep an eye on in the coming big tournaments.
It’s been fun, Euros 2025! The tournament has seemingly set a standard in terms of attendance, viewership, and hype despite Switzerland not necessarily being known as a footballing nation, especially on its women’s side. I think it just goes to show: everyone watches women’s sports.