England vs Spain Euro 2025 final: A major tournament rematch, key battles and our predictions

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England versus Spain has become the matchup in international European football. The two sides have shown they’ll likely be jostling for the top spot for years to come. Their latest battle for a trophy comes later today in the 2025 European Championship final in Basel, Switzerland.

It was only two years ago that Spain defeated England 1-0 to become world champions at the 2023 Women’s World Cup. And, while this particular pairing for the Euros final felt somewhat inevitable, their paths weren’t always straightforward.

The meeting on Sunday is England’s final hurdle to defending their title as champions of Europe, while Spain look to make the most of their first trip to this stage of the competition.

If La Roja win, it will be a moment the team can properly celebrate their accomplishments — an honour that was taken away after the World Cup win when former Spanish Federation president Luis Rubiales non-consensually kissed Spain’s Jennifer Hermoso during the award ceremony.

For England, it would be yet another star on head coach Sarina Wiegman’s resume. She already has the distinction of making five consecutive major tournament final appearances as a coach across two different teams. A win could be all the sweeter after playing the role of comeback queens throughout the tournament.

Our writers, Megan Feringa and Laia Cervello Herrero, have been following and reporting on the tournament all month long. Here’s what they see in the growing rivalry.

What has been the biggest change for both sides since the 2023 World Cup final?

Feringa: For England, look no further than the No 1 shirt.

The thought of England versus Spain in a major final inspires plenty of memories from their showdown in Australia two years ago — not least the profanity-laden roar from Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Mary Earps as she denied Hermoso from the spot in the second half. Earps shocked the sporting world when she announced her retirement from international football before the start of the tournament, leaving Hannah Hampton with the No 1 shirt. The 24-year-old Chelsea ’keeper has stepped up with exquisite aplomb, showing off her range of shot-stopping ability and her distribution.

There is also the return of captain Leah Williamson, who was absent from the World Cup due to her ongoing rehabilitation from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury suffered the year prior while with Arsenal. Her return to the starting XI has been key to the way England play out from the back.

Cervello Herrero: For Spain, the biggest change is on the sidelines. Their World Cup triumph was blighted by Rubiales, and the aftermath included sacking manager Jorge Vilda and giving former assistant Montse Tome the job.

Spain have become one of the best teams in the world despite their circumstances. In September 2022, 15 players refused to be selected to the national team until RFEF provided more professional conditions. This meant that, in 2023, Vilda did not have the best team available for the World Cup.

Patri Guijarro, one of Spain’s most consistent players, sat out of the last final for this reason. She’s shown in the Euros this year just how much she adds to the team. Although Tere Abelleira performed well at the World Cup, despite not playing in her usual position, Guijarro brings something extra to the team. She understands Spain’s two most important players and her FC Barcelona team-mates, Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas, without having to look at them.

Guijarro was not at the 2023 World Cup (Florencia Tan Jun/UEFA via Getty Images)

In 2023, Putellas was recovering from an ACL injury and was unable to play at her usual level. She has since regained her form and is close to her prime, scoring three goals and leading the tournament in assists (four).

However, the greatest difference is off the field. After the players protested, RFEF has improved training programs and increased resources. The team has also been able to play a tournament free of controversy and focus on their dominating footballing for the most part. (Bonmati had to overcome a bout of viral meningitis at the start of the tournament and goalkeeper Cata Coll missed the group stage with tonsillitis.)

England were favourites to win the 2023 World Cup, but now Spain have reached the Euros final in that position.

What has stayed the same?

Feringa: The familiarity of England’s squad has not changed much since 2023. Beth Mead, Lauren James, Alessia Russo, Chloe Kelly, Keira Walsh, Georgia Stanway, Jess Carter and Lucy Bronze are all still among the first names on Wiegman’s team sheet.

Walsh, James and Russo are among a large group of returning England players (Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

Another thing that has stayed the same is England’s incredible strength in depth. While England have been fortunate at times in Switzerland to scrape through to the next stage (including last-gasp goals to secure extra time in both knockout matches), this isn’t a terribly new phenomenon for England.

Call it luck — but luck is also made. And Wiegman’s ability to call on a bench oozing with attacking talent is something that has been a staple of this England team over the past few years.

Another thing that has stayed the same, much to fans’ emotional detriment, is Wiegman’s preference to make substitutions as late as feasibly possible, yet all the while begetting the same inexpressible result.

Cervello Herrero: Although the coach has changed, the style remains the same. Spain continues to have the core of FC Barcelona, both in players and tactics, on the pitch. They also still have Ballon d’Or winner Bonmati.

What was each side’s biggest obstacle to getting to the final?

Feringa: There is no overlooking the lurid spectacle that Spain’s World Cup triumph eventually descended into. Press conferences meant to revolve around team selection and fitness levels instead became a blur of interrogations of players over the ongoing Rubiales’ scandal and their opinions on it. The reigning world champions have since become symbols of women’s fight for equality, but such a high-pressure burden should never have been placed on their shoulders.

England, meanwhile, have had to deal with the noise of major absences from this tournament, from Earps to defender Millie Bright and Fran Kirby. Chelsea defender Bright, 31, declared herself not fit to play for the tournament, having undergone knee surgery in the weeks after the end of the club season and citing a need to focus on her mental wellbeing.

Midfielder Kirby, 32, announced her retirement with immediate effect just before head coach Wiegman’s squad announcement. All three generated intense speculation around the reasons for their departures, as well as the impact on the reigning European champions’ prospects.

What do the sides think of each other? Who does the familiarity help most?

Feringa: Respect is the feeling that emanates between these two teams — and rightfully so.

Before the Euros began, England and Spain were the favourites to reach the final, and here they are again. Both can play others off the park, while also delving into their reserves and willing something magical to life in the dying embers of a match. To see one’s equal so often on the world stage brings a frisson of excitement for both sides — and immense respect.

The familiarity between England and Spain brings about mutual respect (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

Again, this isn’t a cop-out, but the familiarity doesn’t give either side an edge. Both teams are tactically astute, wily and boast individual quality. If anything, the familiarity probably helps the fans out the least, as there is the chance both teams simply nullify each other’s threats to the point of redundancy.

England have the unpredictability of 19-year-old Michelle Agyemang, who will be a new face for the Spanish defence. But familiarity is a two-way street.

Cervello Herrero: Spain arrived at the Euros thinking their biggest rival would once again be England.

In addition to the World Cup final, England knocked Spain out in the quarter-finals of Euro 2022. The teams have met nine times at the Euros. England won three times, Spain twice, and they split four results. Most recently, they each won in the Nations League, with England winning at Wembley and Spain taking the victory in Barcelona in the return match.

Which England player has the most expectations on her to make a moment happen?

Feringa: It’s difficult to look beyond Chloe Kelly and Agyemang at the moment, as they are the England players regularly making moments happen. Without the Arsenal duo, England would be back home in the United Kingdom, watching Sweden or Italy face Spain in the final, wondering where it all went wrong.

Instead, Williamson is contemplating out loud how it all went right. And while mistakes from the opposition need to be noted, Agyemang and Kelly have been carpe diem-mad this tournament.

Forwards Kelly and Agyemang have kept England in the Euros (Jose Breton/Getty Images)

Following on from some promising group-stage displays, Lauren James has been comparatively quieter. Having only just returned to some semblance of fitness following an ankle injury sustained earlier this year, the expectations on James to be providing moments of magic 100 per cent of the time are arguably unfair and unrealistic.

But the Chelsea star will also feel the pressure to deliver in the final, given her obvious calibre.

And the same for Spain?

Feringa: Bonmati. The player who so often delivers for Spain was the one to break the stalemate against Germany to reach the final.

To watch the Barcelona midfielder at times is to watch football played between dimensions, when our linear understanding of time simply stops. The pressure to deliver will be heavy on the two-time Ballon d’Or winner’s shoulders, but that is why she has won it twice.

She knows when to stop moving and let the ball do the work, to dummy and send Germany’s Rebecca Knaak into another time zone and not need to register that Ann-Katrin Berger has space at her near post because she knows this already. That is what pressure does: it demands the best of us to exist beyond it.

That is Bonmati.

Cervello Herrero: Putellas reaches the final after a great group stage, but she has been more absent since the quarter-finals. For this reason, she will likely want to have a great final.

Bonmati, meanwhile, has had a good run after her recovery from illness. She is a player who thrives in big games and proved it against Germany and in the second half against Switzerland. She likes it when things get tough, and her competitive and ambitious nature allows her to keep a cool head and let things happen.

If either player shows up in peak form today, Spain will win.

Who needs this title more? 

Feringa: I’m inclined to say neither. These are two powerhouses on the football stage who have reached successive major tournament finals. Neither team has anything to lose, nor will their legacy be tainted in defeat.

Cervello Herrero: The 2022 Euro served England well in improving the Women’s Super League. Spain could use that kind of bump to put pressure on the powers that be to finally upgrade Liga F. A Euros win won’t guarantee that — the World Cup had little impact on the domestic league — but it also cannot hurt it.

How will five-time finalist head coach Wiegman be judged in this final?

Feringa: England’s dramatic semi-final victory against Italy in extra time ensured the Dutch manager became the first men’s or women’s head coach to reach five major international tournament finals in a row. England’s 2-1 defeat to France in their group stage opener this summer was Wiegman’s first defeat at a major tournament outside of a final.

Wiegman after her Netherlands side won the 2017 Euros (Tobias Schwarz/AFP via Getty Images)

It’s two startling bits of conquest for a manager who regularly shuns the limelight, who insists that her players, rather than tactical nous or elements of her own divine strategising, are at the heart of any victory. But lifting trophy number three from five would elevate her star to unthinkable heights, particularly if it comes against Spain.

To go 0 for 2 against the same opponent in such quick succession would inspire critics to raise questions of style, her loyalty to an established old guard, and her penchant for late (late) substitutions. Victory would silence all of these suspicions.

Even so, Wiegman has executed a feat no other person in international tournament history has done. Her legacy as one of major tournament football’s greatest managers is not up for debate.

Where will this game be won and lost?

Feringa: Midfield will be the place where this match is lost. I’m particularly looking at the ineffable force that is Bonmati. If England can nullify her influence and not allow her time and space on the ball to pick through England’s lines, then England have a solid chance of winning this match.

Equally, Spain’s back line is not the quickest, as Germany often discovered through wingers Jule Brand and Klara Buhl wreaking havoc. England’s wingers, such as Lauren Hemp, James and Kelly, could have plenty of fun in behind and running down the channels if Spain aren’t careful.

Cervello Herrero: Yes, the midfield will be the crucial battleground in this one. Spain can hurt England if their midfield performs as it has done throughout this Euros, especially if they are more clinical in front of goal, unlike in the match against Germany.

I have a feeling that England’s Walsh and Spain’s Guijarro will dictate the tempo of the game and that players such as Bonmati, Putellas and Kelly will be the ones to make the difference.

What is your prediction?

Feringa: England have ridden their luck quite a bit this tournament. But as much as my English colleagues insist — with reliably quintessential English pessimism — that the luck will duly run out in the final, it’s hard to overlook just how often they make their own luck. Yes, that’s often turned on a mistake from the opposition, but Spain have mistakes in them.

Cervello Herrero: Spain may be the better football team overall, but I think England has the champion’s touch. They have been lucky at the right moments and have never given up. I think that coming through with such strength and having had to compete against tough opponents since the group stage makes them even stronger, even if the football they have shown is not.

In finals, previous performances don’t matter that much. I see Spain as slight favourites, but I think it will be a very tough match.

(Top photo: Eric Alonso/Getty Images)

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