The 2023 FIFA women’s World Cup comes to a close on Sunday morning as England will face off against Spain to determine who will be crowned the world champion of women’s soccer. Kickoff is set for 6 a.m. ET from Accor Stadium. Ahead of the action, we’re taking a look back at England’s history in the WWC.
England have never made an appearance in a women’s World Cup final although they’ve come close on more than one occasion. This will be their first-ever final match in the tournament, which will turn out to be a historic one as it’s Spain’s first time in the final as well.
This is England’s sixth entry into the women’s World Cup, with their first coming in 1995 after they missed out on qualification in the inaugural tournament in 1991. Their first foray into the WWC saw them make it out of the group stage, finishing in second behind Norway in Group B. Jumping straight to the quarterfinals, the Lionesses lost 3-0 to Germany and made a swift exit.
They next qualified in 2007, where they again made it out of the group but lost in the quarterfinals to the United States, as was the same situation in 2011 when they were defeated by France in a quarterfinal penalty shootout.
Finally, 2015 saw them advance past the quarters which was even more impressive as this was the first year the round of 16 was introduced. The Lionesses lost to Japan in the semifinal round, but got one back over on Germany in the third place play-off match to secure a third place finish. 2019 saw them just barely miss out on the final yet again after losing to USA in the semis, which was followed by a 2-1 loss to Sweden in the third place match.
Led by Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo, who both have three goals in the tournament, No. 4 England will take on No. 6 Spain in their first-ever WWC final appearance.