Women’s World Cup LIVE: England prepare for final against Spain and latest reaction to win over Australia

Fifa President Gianni Infantino said it is women who “have the power to change football and achieve equality in the game”.

It was already a record-breaking Women’s World Cup, with the tournament in Australia and New Zealand drawing the highest ever attendance of over two million viewers and attracting booming television audiences around the world. The FIFA President also said the World Cup had generated over US$570m (£447m) in revenue and had broken even financially ahead of Sunday’s final between England and Spain.

However, there is still a large discrepancy in prize money between the men’s and women’s world championships. Despite a 10-fold increase from the last Women’s World Cup in 2019, the record prize purse of US$152m (£126m) announced by FIFA ahead of the tournament is still well short of the reported US$440m in prize money ( 365 million pounds). teams at last year’s men’s final in Qatar.

While Infantino said FIFA remains on track to achieve equal pay between the Men’s and Women’s World Cups at the 2026 and 2027 tournaments, the FIFA President called on the media and sponsors to help bridge the gap, and said that women “have the power to persuade men”. that justice can be achieved in football.

The Football Association has revealed that there is already a plan for a statue of the England team near Wembley Stadium after Euro 2022.

If England beat a good Spanish side in Sunday’s World Cup final at Australia’s Stadium, given last summer’s European Cup win, there might have to be two trophies on each statue. Mark Bullingham, CEO of the FA, said the governing body was already in talks on the design as it would be based on the Wembley Stadium layout.

“As far as the statues go, that’s something we look at after the euro. We’ve made progress on that and it would be right to have something outside of Wembley to commemorate that achievement. It would be the whole team.

“Our starting point was more of a collective-centric plan, but we’ll see what design ideas come out of it. And you can imagine the iconic images that emerged at the EM. There are some brilliant things that could be produced. Our starting point is that it is a brilliant team.”

Australia missed out on their first appearance in a Women’s World Cup final after a 3-1 defeat by England in Sydney.

The Matildas fell behind in the first half at Stadium Australia before Sam Kerr equalized with a spectacular long-range shot.

But late goals from Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo secured the Lionesses victory and propelled Sarina Wiegman’s side to their second consecutive major tournament final.

Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham would not rule out the possibility that Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman could one day lead the England men’s team.

The 53-year-old’s reputation as a serial winner has risen steadily since she secured the European title with her native Netherlands in 2017 and did the same with England last summer.

She has now led England to a World Cup final for the first time ever, becoming the only coach to do so with two different nations in the women’s final, having led her home country to the same stage four years ago.

Lauren Hemp didn’t have to look; She already had the image in her head. After playing everywhere for England for 86 minutes, Hemp again managed to veer away from Katrina Gorry and slide into space, sliding left to make room on the right. As Australia pulled away, Hemp opened up the angle and played the ball back to Alessia Russo – her goal all along. Then came the ending, deep and controlled, a clinical conclusion to a merciless performance on a brave evening. Cool, calm and composed, it secured England a place in the World Cup final and summarized how they beat Australia.

“Incredible finish, incredible pass,” said Sarina Wiegman. For the second year in a row their top two players were both on the scoresheet, Hemp and Russo scoring in the semis, as they did in the quarters, just as Wiegman had planned. Except, of course, that nobody expected it in a tournament where things seldom went according to plan for England and they were forced to adapt. The Lionesses went into the World Championship with seven forwards and will likely start Sunday’s finals with just two in attacking positions; Hemp and Russo are their unlikely combination.

England stormed into their first ever Women’s World Cup final after beating Australia 3-1.

Goals from Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo were enough to knock out the Matildas in Sydney.

Australia was gripped by World Cup fever after the Matildas’ dramatic penalty shoot-out win over France in the quarter-finals became the country’s most-watched sporting event since the 2000 Olympics, but Sarina Wiegman’s side had too much to offer in the semi-finals. Final.

But on Sunday the European champions meet Spain in Sydney after La Roja defeated Sweden 2-1 in the other semi-final.

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Alex Greenwood claimed she “couldn’t put it into words,” so she just kept repeating the words that made her feel that way. “We’re in the World Cup final.”

“I just have to keep saying it,” she laughed.

It’s a glorious fact that’s worth actually pondering, although thoughts quickly turned to Sunday, what’s next, who’s starting and whether Lauren James will come in.

If winning the World Cup is the big goal of any career, the final itself is the big stage. Those who step onto the pitch leave their own mark on history, in the very line-ups that are part of the record that makes football so rich.

“We wanted to take England and women’s football to a new level and we’ve certainly done that over the last 12 months,” said Ella Toone. They took everything to the highest level for the first time.

It’s worth celebrating as Sarina Wiegman and the players insisted they would.

By Miguel Delaney in Sydney