UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Final

UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Final

Wembley Stadium in London hosted the final.
Event	UEFA Women's Euro 2022
England Germany 2 1
After extra time
Date	31 July 2022 (2022-07-31)
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Player of the Match	Keira Walsh (England)
Referee	Kateryna Monzul (Ukraine)
Attendance	87,192
Weather	Partly cloudy 25 °C (77 °F) 54% humidity
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The UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Final was a football match on 31 July 2022 that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, England, to determine the winner of UEFA Women's Euro 2022. The match was contested between hosts England and Germany.

For England, this was their third appearance in a European Championship final, and the first since 2009, when they lost against Germany. England also lost 4–3 on penalties to Sweden in their first final in 1984. For Germany, the record winners of the competition, this was their ninth appearance at a European Championship final and the first since 2013, when they won against Norway. Germany had won all eight of the previous European Championship finals they have played.

The final took place in front of a crowd of 87,192, a record attendance for a women's international fixture in Europe and for a European Championship finals match, men's and women's. England won the match 2–1 after extra time for their first UEFA Women's Championship title and the first time a senior England side had won a major football tournament since the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final.

Venue

The match was held at London's Wembley Stadium, in Wembley of the London borough of Brent. Wembley Stadium opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, the demolition of which took place between 2002 and 2003. Owned by the Football Association (FA), it serves as the national football stadium for the men's England team. The stadium was a host venue of the men's UEFA Euro 2020, including the final (which the England men's also contested). The original stadium, formerly known as the Empire Stadium, opened in 1923 and hosted men's football matches at the 1966 FIFA World Cup, including the final – which saw hosts England beat West Germany 4–2 after extra time – and at UEFA Euro 1996, including the final, in which Germany defeated the Czech Republic. Wembley also hosts the annual men's FA Cup final, doing so since the White Horse Final of 1923 (excluding 2001 to 2006, when the stadium was being rebuilt), as well as the Women's FA Cup final since 2015.

Route to the final

England

Having been selected as host for the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 edition, England automatically qualified as the host nation for the tournament. Throughout the history of the Women's Euro prior to 2022, England's Lionesses have reached the final twice and finished as runner-up on both occasions, first in the inaugural edition in 1984 when they lost to Sweden on penalties, and then in 2009, losing 2–6 to Germany.

As host, England were seeded in group A, along with Austria, two-time champions Norway and debutant Northern Ireland. The Lionesses began their quest for their first European title by defeating Austria 1–0. England then set a goal difference record against Norway by beating them 8–0, a record win in either men's or women's Euro. Boosted by the record win over Norway, the hosts went on to beat Northern Ireland 5–0 to finish top of the group with a perfect record and no goals conceded, setting up a quarter-finals encounter against Spain. In their quarter-final, England conceded their first goal in this Euro by a goal from Esther González, equalising towards the end of regulation time with a goal from Ella Toone to take the game to extra-time; a strike from Georgia Stanway sealed a 2–1 win for England, taking them to a semi-finals match against Sweden. In their semi-final, England beat Sweden 4–0, including a backheel goal by Alessia Russo and a mistake by Hedvig Lindahl, to see England through to the finals for the first time since 2009.

Germany

As Europe's most decorated women's team, Germany is also the record holder of Euro titles, having triumphed eight times, including the 6–2 win over England in 2009. In the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying, Germany was drawn in group I, along with Ukraine, Republic of Ireland, Greece and Montenegro; they took a perfect eight wins out of eight to qualify for the tournament held in England.

In the main tournament, Germany was drawn in group B, alongside Spain, Denmark and Finland. Germany beat 2017 runners-up Denmark, who defeated them in that edition's quarter-finals, 4–0. They then defeated Spain 2–0 to top the group, before taking a 3–0 win against Finland, also with a perfect record and no goals conceded. Germany then beat Austria in the quarter-finals 2–0 to get a spot in the semi-finals, where they faced France. In their semi-finals, Germany conceded their first goal in the tournament due to an own goal by goalkeeper Merle Frohms, but took the win with two goals from Alexandra Popp, returning to the finals for the first time since 2013.

Pre-match

Kateryna Monzul of Ukraine was the referee for the final.

Officials

On 29 July 2022, the UEFA Referees Committee announced the officiating team for the final, led by 41-year-old Ukrainian referee Kateryna Monzul of the Ukrainian Association of Football. She was joined by her compatriot Maryna Striletska as one of the assistant referees, serving alongside Paulina Baranowska of Poland. Frenchwoman Stéphanie Frappart was selected as the fourth official, while Karolin Kaivoja of Estonia served as the reserve assistant referee. Paolo Valeri of Italy was appointed as the video assistant referee, the first use of the technology in the final of a UEFA Women's Championship. He was joined by fellow countryman Maurizio Mariani as one of the assistant VAR officials, serving alongside Pol van Boekel of the Netherlands.

Monzul is a native of Kharkiv, having to flee the country with her family to Germany following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Though football was suspended in Ukraine, she wished to continue her officiating career. Following discussions with the Italian Football Federation and Italian Referees Association, she was able to resume refereeing in Italy, officiating in the Serie A Femminile and the men's youth league. Her compatriot and assistant referee Maryna Striletska, from Luhansk, similarly left the country for Switzerland, officiating in the men's third-tier Promotion League.

Monzul had been a FIFA referee since 2004 and was the first Ukrainian referee to officiate a UEFA Women's Championship final. UEFA Women's Euro 2022 was her ninth major international tournament, after the UEFA Women's Championship in 2009, 2013 and 2017, the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2011 (as fourth official), 2015 and 2019, and the Women's Olympic Football Tournament in 2016 and 2020. Monzul officiated three matches earlier in the tournament: Spain vs Finland and Austria vs Norway in the group stage, and the quarter-final between Sweden and Belgium. The match was her third major international final, having previously officiated the 2014 UEFA Women's Champions League Final between Tyresö FF of Sweden and VfL Wolfsburg of Germany, and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Final between the United States and Japan.

In 2016, Monzul began officiating in the men's Ukrainian Premier League, the first woman to do so. She has also been appointed to matches in the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League. In November 2020, she officiated a UEFA Nations League fixture between San Marino and Gibraltar as part of the first all-female refereeing team to take charge of a senior men's international match.

Team selection

Germany captain and top scorer Alexandra Popp withdrew injured shortly before kick-off.

England had their entire squad available for selection in the final. For Germany, forward Klara Bühl was ruled out of the final by manager Martina Voss-Tecklenburg after testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 prior to the semi-final against France. Jule Brand subsequently took her place in the starting line-up. However, Bühl was able to still attend the match as a spectator after testing negative on the day of the final. Forward Lea Schüller had also tested positive for the virus after starting in Germany's opening fixture against Denmark. However, she exited isolation prior to the team's quarter-final match against Austria, but had lost her starting spot to captain Popp. The day before the final, Popp suffered a "slight [muscular] strain" according to Germany national team director Oliver Bierhoff, but wanted to wait until the pre-match warm-up to see if she was fit; this information was not announced prior to the match.

Both teams initially named unchanged sides from their respective semi-final victories, and maintained the same formations: a 4–2–3–1 for England and a 4–3–3 for Germany. For England, this meant that manager Sarina Wiegman had named the same starting line-up in all six matches of the competition, a first in the history of the women's or men's European Championship. Minutes prior to kick-off, Popp, the joint-leading scorer in the tournament, who had scored in all five matches, withdrew from the starting line-up injured due to her muscular issue resurfacing during the warm-up. She was replaced by Schüller, the top scorer of the 2021–22 Frauen-Bundesliga who had been named Women's Footballer of the Year in Germany hours earlier by Kicker. Svenja Huth was named as captain in place of Popp, who sat on the team bench but was not available as a substitute.

Closing ceremony

British singer Becky Hill performed at the closing ceremony before the start of the match. She performed her songs "Crazy What Love Can Do", "My Heart Goes (La Di Da)", and "Remember", before inviting Ultra Naté on stage to perform a rendition of Naté's song "Free" along with Stefflon Don.

Match

Chloe Kelly scored the decisive goal for England in extra time.

Summary

The match kicked off at 17:00 local time (BST) in front of 87,192 spectators. This set an attendance record both for a women's international fixture in Europe and for a match in the final tournament of a UEFA men's or women's national team competition. Ellen White had an early chance for England, but headed straight at German goalkeeper Frohms, before England picked up two early bookings, with White and Stanway receiving yellow cards. In the 25th minute a goalmouth scramble nearly resulted in a goal for Germany, before England goalkeeper Mary Earps gathered the ball. An appeal for a penalty due to the ball striking England captain Leah Williamson's arm was turned down; moments later at the other end of the pitch there were similar appeals for a penalty due to the ball striking German captain Schüller's arm, which was also denied. White missed another chance just before half-time, sending the ball over the bar, with the first half ending goalless. Germany made a substitution at half-time, replacing Brand with Tabea Waßmuth.

Five minutes into the second half, Lina Magull missed a goal for Germany, sending the ball just wide of the post. In the 55th minute, England made two substitutions, replacing White and Fran Kirby with Russo and Toone, and it was to be the latter substitute that gave England the lead seven minutes later: a long ball from Keira Walsh sent Toone clear of the defence, and she chipped the ball over Frohms. The tournament's top goalscorer, England's Beth Mead, had been injured just before the goal, and was replaced by Chloe Kelly. Germany nearly equalised almost straight away when Magull hit the bar with a rising shot, with Earps saving the follow-up attempt from Schüller. Magull then brought the match level after 79 minutes, flicking the ball into the goal after receiving a cross from Waßmuth. This took the match to extra time with the score at 1–1.

There were few chances of note in the first half of extra time. In the second period, England took the lead, scoring in the 110th minute of the match. A corner by Lauren Hemp bounced off Lucy Bronze into the path of Kelly, and she stabbed the ball in at the second attempt. England then managed the game well for the remaining 10 minutes, giving the Germans no chance to equalise, and won their first major international trophy. It was the second consecutive Euros win for manager Wiegman, who won the previous Euros managing her native Netherlands.

Details

31 July 2022 (2022-07-31)

17:00 BST

England	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Germany
Toone 62' Kelly 110'	Report	Magull 79'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 87,192

Referee: Kateryna Monzul (Ukraine)

England

Germany

GK 1 Mary Earps RB 2 Lucy Bronze CB 6 Millie Bright CB 8 Leah Williamson (c) LB 3 Rachel Daly  88' CM 10 Georgia Stanway  23'  88' CM 4 Keira Walsh RW 7 Beth Mead  63' AM 14 Fran Kirby  55' LW 11 Lauren Hemp  120' CF 9 Ellen White  24'  55' Substitutions: MF 20 Ella Toone  55' FW 23 Alessia Russo  100'  55' FW 18 Chloe Kelly  111'  63' DF 5 Alex Greenwood  88' MF 16 Jill Scott  88' FW 17 Nikita Parris  120' Manager: Sarina Wiegman

GK 1 Merle Frohms RB 15 Giulia Gwinn CB 3 Kathrin Hendrich CB 5 Marina Hegering  103' LB 17 Felicitas Rauch  40'  113' CM 20 Lina Magull  91' CM 6 Lena Oberdorf  57' CM 13 Sara Däbritz  73' RF 9 Svenja Huth (c) CF 7 Lea Schüller  57'  67' LF 22 Jule Brand  46' Substitutions: FW 18 Tabea Waßmuth  46' FW 14 Nicole Anyomi  67' MF 8 Sydney Lohmann  73' MF 16 Linda Dallmann  91' DF 23 Sara Doorsoun  103' MF 4 Lena Lattwein  113' Manager: Martina Voss-Tecklenburg

Statistics

Post-match

England's Keira Walsh (left) was named as the player of the match for the final. England manager Sarina Wiegman (right) won a second consecutive UEFA Women's Championship, the first to do so with two different countries.

Records

After the England men's team lost in the UEFA Euro 2020 Final a year earlier, the success of the women's team brings England their first Euro victory, as well as their first major international honour since 1966. It is the England women's first Euro title after two previous defeats in the final. The crowd at Wembley totalled 87,192, a record attendance for a women's international fixture in Europe and for a European Championship finals match, men's and women's.

England manager Sarina Wiegman became the first manager to win the Women's Euro with two different countries, having led her native Netherlands to the title in 2017.

For Germany, losing the match became their first loss in a Women's Euros final, having won all eight titles in their eight previous Women's Euro finals appearances.

Honours

English midfielder Keira Walsh was named the player of the match for the final. Teammate Beth Mead was named the player of the tournament by UEFA's technical observers, and won the top scorer award with six goals; Germany's Alexandra Popp also scored six goals, but had no assists to Mead's five. German midfielder Lena Oberdorf won the inaugural young player of the tournament award, open to players born on or after 1 January 1999.

On 1 August, the day following the final, the England team celebrated their victory with supporters at Trafalgar Square. Lord Mayor of London Vincent Keaveny and Edward Lord of the City of London Corporation announced during the celebration that they would give all 23 members of the team and Wiegman the Freedom of the City of London. The German team were celebrated as runners-up at the Römer in Frankfurt on the same day.

Impact on women's football

The win was considered by The Guardian columnist Carrie Dunn as a historic event that "will change women's football forever", noting the increase of popularity in women's football and the record-breaking final attendance. The live UK television audience for the match peaked at 17.4million people on BBC One, making it the most-watched women's football game in the country's history. The game was also the most watched programme in the UK in 2022.

After the game, the goal celebration by Chloe Kelly where she removed her shirt revealing a sports bra and swung her shirt around her head was praised as uniting and empowering women. It was also congratulated by former US women's player Brandi Chastain, whose iconic 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup Final celebration by removing her jersey had been compared to Kelly's celebration.

Queen Elizabeth II released a statement addressed to the team, saying:

The Championships and your performance in them have rightly won praise. However, your success goes far beyond the trophy you have so deservedly earned. You have all set an example that will be an inspiration for girls and women today, and for future generations. It is my hope that you will be as proud of the impact you have had on your sport as you are of the result today.

— Elizabeth II, 31 July 2022

England–Germany rivalry

The rivalry between the English and German national teams is considered the greatest in football. Prior to the 2022 women's Euro final, England had never beaten Germany in a European final, while England's only prior international title was won by the men's team defeating West Germany in the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final. In the women's game, the England–Germany rivalry had seen the Lionesses defeat Germany only twice. The England women's most recent European final, in 2009, was lost to Germany, in the nineteenth consecutive match England women's lost to Germany at the time.

German tabloid Bild accused the final of being rigged, comparing it to the 1966 men's World Cup by saying that both times Wembley was used to guarantee England victory.

Aftermath

As winners of the Women's Euro, England qualified for the inaugural UEFA–CONMEBOL Women's Finalissima, a one-off match where they will face Brazil, winners of the 2022 Copa América Femenina. The match, taking place in Europe, is part of a renewed partnership between CONMEBOL and UEFA. The date and venue have yet to be announced.