Women’s European Football Championship
Germany fails in the final – England celebrates its first title win
Chloe Kelly sends Wembley Stadium into a frenzy: The attacker scored in extra time to win the European Championship 2-1 against Germany.
© FRANCK FIFE / AFP
It finally worked out on the third try: England is the women’s European soccer champion for the first time. The German team had to admit defeat after a great fight.
After the final whistle, the jubilation knew no bounds: the English football women are European champions for the first time in history. They lost twice in the finals, and they succeeded on the third attempt. They won a hard-fought match against Germany 2-1. The score was 1-1 after 90 minutes and Chloe Maggie Kelly scored in extra time to give the Lionesses the winning goal.
The game started with a shock for the German team: goal scorer Alexandra Popp, who had already scored six goals in this tournament, injured herself while warming up and was temporarily out. Lea Schüller took her place in the starting XI.
Germany was better in the second half
However, the national team quickly recovered from the shock. The game was an open exchange of blows from the start. With Prince William and Chancellor Olaf Scholz watching, both teams had good chances to score. In a physical game things got down to business, referee Kateryna Monzul repeatedly pulled out the yellow card and warned Stanway and White on the English side, and the German full-back Felicitas Rauch also saw a yellow card.
The German national team came out of the dressing room with a lot of momentum and immediately after the restart, Waßmuth and Magull created several good chances to score. The goal then came on the other side: Ella Toone was sent by Keira Walsh with a wonderful through ball from within her own half. The German goalkeeper Merle Frohms overcame the substitute six minutes earlier with a skillful lob and sent the 87,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium into a frenzy of joy.
Germany reacted immediately and shortly afterwards had a huge chance to equalize. First, Lina Magull only hit the crossbar with a powerful shot, Lea Schüller was unable to convert the rebound. Magull did better in the 79th minute: She tucked a pass from Tabea Waßmuth precisely under the bar and made it 1-1.
So it went into overtime. There, substitute Chloe Maggie Kelly proved to be the match winner: she scored the much-acclaimed 2-1 winner after a corner. After the final whistle, the jubilation at Wembley Stadium knew no bounds.