England beat Spain in penalty shootout to win Women’s Euro 2025
Chloe Kelly scored the decisive spot-kick as England beat Spain 3-1 in a penalty shootout to win Euro 2025, successfully defending the title they won three years ago after an enthralling encounter that ended 1-1 after extra time.
Spain dominated possession in Basel, Switzerland, on Sunday and made the breakthrough in the 25th minute when Ona Batlle crossed and the England defence was caught flat-footed, allowing Mariona Caldentey to head the ball past Hannah Hampton.
Kelly helped shore up England’s porous left flank and provided the cross for Alessia Russo to level the score in the 57th minute, the forward heading home her inch-perfect assist.
Spain continued to control the ball but couldn’t find another goal before the end of regulation time. The pattern persisted in extra time, as they probed repeatedly but failed to break through the resilient English defence, with the match ending 1-1.
The Spaniards got the shootout off to a strong start when goalkeeper Catalina Coll saved Beth Mead’s opening effort, but England’s Hannah Hampton responded by saving spot-kicks from Caldentey and Aitana Bonmati, swinging momentum back to the Lionesses.
Coll pulled one back for Spain with a superb one-handed stop to deny Leah Williamson, but substitute Salma Paralluelo then fired her kick wide of the target.
That miss set the stage for Kelly to repeat her 2022 heroics, when she scored the extra-time winner against Germany to secure England’s first Euro title at Wembley.
This final marked the first time since the tournament’s inaugural edition in 1984 that the Women’s Euro was decided by a penalty shootout — a match in which England had lost to Sweden.
