Soccer Football - FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 - Final - Fans in Madrid watch Spain v England - WiZink Center, Madrid, Spain - August 20, 2023 Spain fans celebrate after winning the World Cup final REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura
MADRID (Reuters) -Jubilant Spain supporters cheered loudly and waved flags after their team beat England 1-0 in Sydney on Sunday to win the Women's World Cup for the first time.
Fans packed into Madrid's WiZink Center, home to the Real Madrid Basketball team, jumped up and down, waved Spanish flags and sang loudly after the final whistle blew.
"(They've made) history, finally women's soccer and women's sport is starting to get attention. Great girls! Congratulations," Raquel Chamochin, 40, told Reuters.
Co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, the ninth edition of the Women's World Cup was the first to be held in the southern hemisphere.
Olga Carmona's goal put La Roja, as the Spanish women's team are known, ahead in the first half and they created the majority of the clearcut chances in the match.
"It's very exciting," said Mercedes Guzman, 54, who watched the match in the WiZink Center. "They're a super solid team and this is huge progress for women's sport."
"As a soccer fan I'm super happy that Spain is the best in the world again," said engineer Jorge Martin, 33.
Spain's Queen Letizia and Princess Sofia were in Sydney for the match and the Queen hugged each player before they were presented with the trophy.
The Spanish Royal Family was quick to celebrate, writing on their official X, formerly Twitter, account "You are the best football players in the world, this is FOOTBALL and this is HISTORY!"
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also sent his congratulations, writing on X: "You have made history. You are a source of pride. You are an inspiration. You are GREAT".
Spain, missing leading players after a mutiny against coach Jorge Vilda only a few months ago, were thrashed 4-0 by Japan in the group stage, but progressed steadily through the knockout stages and outplayed England in the final.
(Reporting by Elena Rodriguez and Michael Gore; Writing by Jessica Jones, editing by Ed Osmond)
