Spain and England, for glory in the Women's Euro

From the Editorial Staff

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, July 27, 2025, p. a11

The reigning world champions of Spain will play the final of the 2025 Women's Euro Cup today at St. Jakob Park in Basel against England, the reigning champions, in a striking duel that will relive the decisive match of the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, where the Iberians sealed a 1-0 victory with a memorable goal from Olga Carmona.

It will also be the third time the two teams have met in less than six months, having met in the recent UEFA Women's Nations League. In February, England won 1-0 at Wembley, and in June, Spain won 2-1 in Barcelona, securing their place in the semi-finals in October.

In this year's European Championship, both teams were contenders to reach the final and lived up to expectations; however, they arrived at this decisive match with a different, much more complex and dramatic path for the English team.

Spain, led by Montse Tomé, has shown more determination and resolve than its rival, who has had to resort to saving goals, extra time, and penalties to try to defend its throne.

La Roja arrives undefeated and with a perfect record of victories so far, favored by a more manageable initial path than that of the Leonas, led by Sarina Wiegman.

The Iberians dominated Group B with authority, with victories over Portugal (5-0), Belgium (6-2) and Italy (3-1), then beat the host Switzerland in the quarterfinals, and finally starred in a high-voltage semifinal against Germany, their first top-level opponent.

England endured much more suffering, opening with a demanding match against France, which ended in a 2-1 defeat. However, they improved from there, and after advancing from the group stage, where they also faced the Netherlands and Wales, they defeated Sweden in the quarterfinals and Italy in the semifinals to reach the title fight.

The captain of the Iberian national team, Irene Paredes, explained the moment of maturity and quality with which her team reaches this new final, where, she said, they have the objective of continuing to make history after winning the World Cup two years ago, a triumph that was overshadowed after Luis Rubiales, then president of Spanish football, forced a kiss on Jennifer Hermoso, which unleashed an international scandal.