The Latest: England faces Spain in Women's Euro 2025 final

Hamilton Spectator

12 hours ago

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Defending champion England faces Spain in the final of the Women's European Championship.
The match in Basel is a repeat of the 2023 World Cup final where Spain defeated the Lionesses 1-0.
Coincidentally, the same countries played in the men's European Championship final last year. Spain won that match 2-1.
Here's the latest:
St. Jakob-Park is filling up
Basel's soccer stadium has a capacity of 34,250 during Euro 2025 and no empty seats are expected at the final. With an hour to go until kickoff, thousands of fans have already taken their seats.
Even before the final, the tournament has broken the total attendance record for a Women's European Championship. A total of
623,088 spectators
have attended the 30 matches so far, surpassing the previous total attendance record of 574,875 from Euro 2022.
Skies clear up after heavy rain in Basel
There have been intermittent torrential showers and thunderstorms but that has not dampened the spirits of thousands of Spanish and England fans that have been gathering in the fan zones in Basel.
The rain teemed down about two hours before kickoff but the sun came out shortly afterward and the skies above St. Jakob-Park have cleared up for now.
Defending champions did it the hard way
England got off to a rough start with a 2-1 defeat to France, becoming the first reigning champion to lose its opening match at a women's Euros. The team bounced back with a 4-0 victory over the Netherlands and a 6-1 thrashing of Wales.
Then came the craziness of its quarterfinal against Sweden when it was trailing 2-0 with 12 minutes to go before equalizing and taking the match to extra time and a penalty shootout. There were nine failed penalty attempts before England finally triumphed 3-2.
England left it even later in its semifinal against Italy. Teenager Michelle Agyemang leveled in stoppage time to force extra time and fellow substitute Chloe Kelly scored in the 119th minute to secure a 2-1 win, just as it appeared another penalty shootout was looming.
(Almost) smooth sailing for Spain
Spain swept through the group stage, winning all three matches against Portugal, Belgium and Italy — scoring 14 goals and conceding three.
Spain found it tougher to get past Switzerland in the quarterfinals but finally broke the resistance of the host nation with two quickfire goals midway through the second half. Spain also missed two penalties and hit the woodwork three times.
Like England, its semifinal lasted 120 minutes. It took a moment of magic from two-time Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmatí in the 113th minute to secure a 1-0 win over Germany.
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AP soccer:
https://apnews.com/hub/soccer