Spain defeated England 1-0 to claim the title of Women’s World Cup champion for the first time.
The Lionesses, the current European champions, were stopped from bringing the trophy back to England for the first time since 1966 by Spain’s victory in just its third World Cup appearance. That year, England’s men’s squad captured the country’s lone World Cup.
Olga Carmona’s goal in the 29th minute gave Spain the victory. The left back became just the eighth player in tournament history to score in both the semifinal and championship match. The left back scored in back-to-back World Cup games for Spain, which has a tournament-best 18 goals this World Cup.
Spain, who had 15 players almost leave the national team last year, was the more aggressive team in the championship game and pressured throughout.
Sarina Wiegman, the team’s first non-British manager hired in late 2021, suffered her team’s first defeat of the competition against England. Wiegman also suffered his second straight defeat in the championship game.
Wiegman led the Netherlands when they lost to the United States 2-0 in 2019 and is the only coach in the tournament’s history to lead two nations to the final.
Since neither Spain nor England had ever won the Women’s World Cup, the championship match guaranteed a first-time champion.
