Fuelled by years of struggle, tears and failure, it’s been a long road to the top for England and Spain.
Befitting a tournament where there have been so many surprises, the final of Australia & New Zealand 2023 features two nations that have arrived at this stage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ for the first time.
Reaching the summit of the sport has, though, been anything but an easy climb for England and Spain.
The Lionesses lived through dark days at the turn of the century, failing to qualify for three of the first four finals and enduring heartbreak at continental level too. For Spain it was a barren spell of six straight failed qualifications that remain as the base of the mountain they are hoping to finally scale this Sunday.
FIFA takes a look back at some of the key matches that helped to forge the national teams of England and Spain as they prepare for the Women’s World Cup final and that last step to the summit.
England’s struggles
25 November 1990: England 1-4 Germany (Wycombe, England)
Having just scraped through the first qualification phase for the inaugural Women’s World Cup in China, England were humiliated in the quarter-finals of the 1991 UEFA Women’s Championship, which doubled as the qualification tournament. The late Heidi Mohr grabbed a hat-trick in the 4-1 win, and the England coach, Martin Reagan, was sacked shortly afterwards. Incidentally, current Lionesses coach Sarina Wiegman also featured for the Netherlands at that tournament.
13 June 1995: Germany 3-0 England (Vasteras, Sweden)
England’s first appearance at the Women’s World Cup started well, with wins over Canada and Nigeria in the group stage sending them to the quarter-finals. It all fell apart though in Vasteras, to the west of Stockholm, as current Germany coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg got the first in a 3-0 rout that started a period in the wilderness for a Lionesses side that would not feature at a Women’s World Cup for the next 12 years.
16 November 2002: France 1-0 England (Saint-Etienne, France)
After a disastrous qualification campaign for the 1999 Women’s World Cup that saw England lose five of their six matches, they progressed all the way to the final qualifier for USA 2003, where they faced France in a two-legged play-off. Trailing 1-0 from the first leg in London, a Corinne Diacre strike nine minutes into the second half secured a 2-0 aggregate win for Les Bleues and continued England’s long absence from the global showpiece.
1 July 2015 Japan 2-1 England (Edmonton, Canada)
Having reached the quarter-finals on their return to the Women’s World Cup over the two previous editions, expectations were high heading to Canada 2015. Tight wins over Norway in the Round of 16 and Canada in the quarter-finals set up a last four clash with the defending champions, Japan. The teams traded first-half penalties and were heading to extra time when disaster struck as Laura Bassett sent a ball flying over her own keeper in the second minute of stoppage time to send the Lionesses crashing out.
3 August 2017 Netherlands 3-0 England (Enschede, Netherlands)
Two years on from that heartbreaking own goal at the Women’s World Cup, England were undone in the same manner again at the continental finals. Having marched through the group stage with three straight wins and then defeated France in the quarter-finals, they met the hosts in the semis, where goals from Vivianne Miedema and Danielle van de Donk had the Netherlands 2-0 up just after the hour. Any hope of an England comeback was crushed though by a late Millie Bright own goal that continued England’s run of heartbreaking late exits at major tournaments.
Spain’s struggles
4 November 1989: Spain 0-0 Switzerland (Benicassim, Spain)
This was Spain’s first step in attempting to qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup™, with the 1991 UEFA Women’s Championship doubling as the qualifiers for the inaugural tournament held later that same year in China. La Roja, though, didn’t even reach the continental showpiece, failing to win any of their six qualifiers after starting with this scoreless draw in the coastal city of Benicassim, scoring only three goals along the way.
1 November 1997: Spain 1-2 Ukraine (Gava, Spain)
Spain’s third attempt at qualification again saw the team struggle, losing their opener against Ukraine in front of just 1000 supporters on the outskirts of Barcelona. They again finished bottom, scoring just five goals and failing to win any of their six matches in the section.
19 June 2010: Spain 2-2 England (Burgos, Spain)
With only one team from this five-nation group progressing through to the final stage of European qualification, it was essentially a straight shootout between England and Spain as the two dominant forces for that lone slot. La Roja were 2-0 up with just 12 minutes to play in Burgos before Rachel Unitt and Faye White struck late on as the Lionesses progressed at their hosts’ expense.
17 June 2015: South Korea 2-1 Spain (Ottawa, Canada)
Having finally reached the Women’s World Cup after six failed attempts, Spain drew their opener against Costa Rica before a narrow loss to Brazil. That set up a winner-takes-all final group clash with a Korea Republic side that had never won a match at the global showpiece. Vero Boquete put Spain ahead just before the half hour only for a pair of second half goals to secure a 2-1 win for the Koreans. The Asian side duly progressed to the Round of 16 while Spain headed home.
24 June 2019: Spain 1-2 USA (Reims, France)
This was so close to the coming-of-age for Spanish women’s football. The 2019 Women’s World Cup saw the nation collect their first win as they progressed to the knockout stage. There, they pushed a USA side at the peak of their powers all the way in the Round of 16, with Jennifer Hermoso’s ninth-minute goal cancelling out Megan Rapinoe’s early penalty. It was Rapinoe, though, who broke Spanish hearts with a second penalty in the 75th minute, securing the 2-1 win at a tournament in which the US went on to win a record fourth title.
21 July 2022: England 2-1 Spain (Brighton, England)
A star-studded Spain side were considered among the leading contenders at the 2022 UEFA European Women’s Football Championship but, after struggling in the group stage, they were paired with hosts England in the quarter-finals. An Esther Gonzalez goal had them 1-0 up with only six minutes remaining before Ella Toone snatched a scarcely deserved equaliser to send the game to extra time. Georgia Stanway then won it for an England side who would go on to claim the title.
FIFA