ZURICH — There ought to be a familiarity about Spain reaching another major tournament final.
From the moment the draw was announced, England knew it could come to this, a replay of the 2023 World Cup final which the Lionesses lost on that agonising night in Sydney.
Two years ago, the football may have been divine but the Spanish dressing room was a hotbed of unrest.
Players were divided by the reign of then manager Jorge Vilda even before the scandal which overshadowed the final, the Spanish federation’s former president Luis Rubiales forcibly kissing striker Jenni Hermoso on the lips as the squad collected their medals.
The legal battles that followed have, in much of the public imagination, superseded Spain’s achievements on the pitch.
The goal that booked Spain's place in their first ever Women's Euros final pic.twitter.com/yOBZNxVrbl
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 23, 2025Ahead of Sunday’s Euro 2025 final, England midfielder Keira Walsh insisted “the most important thing for them as a footballer, is that they can enjoy this final – that there’s not the controversy surrounding it.
“The girls deserve to be there to play incredible football. The way our league jumped after we won the Euros [in 2022] – if you compare it to Spain it probably wasn’t the same and they won the World Cup.
“After the final there was a lot of controversy and I don’t think, for them, there was enough spotlight on how incredible they played. It was all about the other stuff. As a professional, that was disappointing to see. I have a lot of friends in that team and I think they probably deserved a little bit more than what they got.”
When collecting her Women’s Coach of the Year award that summer, Sarina Wiegman paid tribute to the Spanish players who had won not only a major tournament but a new era when Rubiales ultimately resigned and Vilda – who had himself been accused of controlling behaviour – was sacked.
Spain promised to “renew” its commitment to women’s football and Walsh saw first-hand in her spell at Barcelona how her teammates were battling for more respect.
In September 2023, a month after winning the World Cup, La Liga F players went on strike over poor wages, with a minimum salary eventually agreed of just €21,000 (£18,000). That has increased by about €2,500 a year since.
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It explains, in part, why such a trend has developed of Spanish players moving to England’s Women’s Super League.
Mariona Caldentey, who joined Arsenal in 2024, told the BBC that “we won the World Cup and it changed nothing”.
Aitana Bonmati, the current holder of the Ballon d’Or who scored the goal that got Spain to this year’s final, insisted it was not just about footballers, but about women “in other jobs…who are going through these things”.
The cultural and institutional battles in which Spanish players have had to enlist are not over.
Yet the hope is that under Vilda’s successor, Montse Tome, winning another tournament would allow them to be remembered for their sporting achievements.
This time, Hermoso will not be a part of it, having been left out of the squad, but much of the heart of that World Cup-winning side – Bonmati, Caldentey, Alexia Putellas – remains the same.
It is Patri Guijarro who has quite possibly had the biggest impact this summer in Switzerland, with Claudia Pina also vindicating her starting spot.
The Lionesses have so often talked of a “new England” as a way of avoiding complacency or revelling in their previous successes, but they come up against a new Spain desperate to put their recent history behind them.
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