Football world will have a new women’s World Cup champion this Sunday when Spain and England face each other in the final at the Stadium Australia. England have so far been unbeaten at the World Cup and the Lionesses will now be aiming to extend their sensational run against Spain to claim the maiden title. Spain have been in brilliant form since conceding their solitary defeat of the tournament against Japan at the group stage. England qualified for the summit clash after thrashing co-hosts Australia 1-3 in the semi-finals. Meanwhile, Spain saw off Sweden by two goals to one in the semi-finals.
As the two teams are set to feature in a titanic final battle this weekend, we take a look at the FIFA Women’s World Cup final by a statistical breakdown.
1: This year’s final will mark Spain and England’s first meeting at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. They had previously faced each other at the qualifying stage of the competition.
2: Spain are just the second team in the history of the tournament to have reached the final after losing a match by a margin of four or more goals. In the inaugural edition of the Women’s World Cup in 1991, Norway qualified for the final after conceding an opening 4-0 defeat at the hands of China. The Norwegian side went on to finish as the runners-up in 1991.
11: Spain and England have so far faced each other 11 times in the history of women’s football. While England have been able to emerge victorious on six occasions, the Spanish side won two matches. The remaining three meetings between England and Spain ended as a draw.
17: With 17 goals to their name, the Spanish football team have been the highest-scoring side at this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup. England found the back of the net 13 times.
1991: The FIFA Women’s World Cup produced two first-time finalists last time back in 1991. Norway and Sweden had squared off in that final match.
2003: This year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup final will be the first all-European clash since 2003. Overall, two European teams have been involved in the FIFA Women’s World Cup final two times- 1995 (Norway vs Germany) and 2003 (Germany vs Sweden).
2022: England and Spain had last met each other at a major international tournament in July last year. England had earned an emphatic 2-1 win in that European Championship quarter-final fixture in Brighton. Spain had managed to score the first goal of the knockout game but La Roja, eventually, squandered their one-goal lead. England came from behind to claim an epic victory in that fixture.
