Ahead of Sunday’s Euro 2024 final between Spain and England, Sports Mole looks at the head-to-head record and previous meetings between the two clubs.
For the first time in the history of the England senior men’s team, the Three Lions will play in a major tournament final on foreign soil on Sunday night, squaring up to Spain in a Euro 2024 showpiece of epic proportions.
The two Olympiastadion competitors arrive in Berlin on the back of captivating comeback successes in the semi-finals, as La Roja sunk France 2-1 to give themselves a shot of winning a record-breaking fourth Euros title.
Meanwhile, Gareth Southgate‘s troops were indebted to the heroics of Ollie Watkins in a gritty win over the Netherlands by the same scoreline, as the Euro 2020 runners-up reached successive continental finals in dramatic fashion.
Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at the head-to-head record and previous meetings between the two sides.
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Head-to-head record
Previous meetings: 27
Spain wins: 10
Draws: 3
England wins: 14
From 27 previous head-to-heads, England hold a minor historical edge over Spain with 14 triumphs to their name compared to 10 for La Roja, while another three contests have ended in a share of the spoils.
Four of those 14 England wins have come at their previous four European Championship battles, including in the quarter-finals of the 1996 edition, where the Three Lions converted all of their penalties, akin to their 100% success rate in the 2024 last eight versus Switzerland.
England also bettered their red-clad counterparts in the group stage of the 1980 Europeans and in two qualifying quarter-final ties in 1968, but since the turn of the millennium, Spain have had England’s number more often than not.
Indeed, the 2010 World Cup winners have lost just three of their nine matches with the Three Lions post-2000, although all but two of those contests were friendlies, and the most recent bragging rights belong to Southgate’s charges.
Not since the group stage of the 2018-19 Nations League have Spain and England crossed paths in the senior men’s game, where La Roja left Wembley with a 2-1 win to their name, but Southgate’s men exacted revenge one month later with a 3-2 triumph in Seville, courtesy of Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling.
Victory on Spanish soil nearly six years ago brought an end to England’s three-game winless run against Spain, but not since beating the three-time European champions seven times in a row from 1960 to 1980 have the Three Lions posted consecutive wins over La Roja.
While Sunday’s mouthwatering battle will mark the first time that England and Spain have contested a senior men’s major final, the two countries met twice last year with a coveted prize on the line, as the Young Lions trumped Spain 1-0 in the Under-21 Euros final.
However, La Roja’s heartbreak on that occasion was avenged by their female counterparts, who edged out Sarina Wiegman‘s Lionesses by the same scoreline to win the Women’s World Cup Down Under, where Mary Earps‘s dramatic penalty save was for nought.
Last 20 meetings
Oct 15, 2018: Spain 2-3 England (Nations League League Phase)
Sep 08, 2018: England 1-2 Spain (Nations League League Phase)
Nov 15, 2016: England 2-2 Spain (International Friendly)
Nov 13, 2015: Spain 2-0 England (International Friendly)
Nov 12, 2011: England 1-0 Spain (International Friendly)
Feb 11, 2009: Spain 2-0 England (International Friendly)
Feb 7, 2007: England 0-1 Spain (International Friendly)
Nov 17, 2004: Spain 1-0 England (International Friendly)
Feb 28, 2001: England 3-0 Spain (International Friendly)
Jun 22, 1996: England 0-0 Spain (4-2 pens) (European Championships Quarter-Final)
Sep 9, 1992: Spain 1-0 England (International Friendly)
Feb 18, 1987: Spain 2-4 England (International Friendly)
Jul 5, 1982 Spain 0-0 England (World Cup Group Stage)
Mar 25, 1981: England 1-2 Spain (International Friendly)
Jun 18, 1980: England 2-1 Spain (European Championships Group Stage)
Mar 26, 1980 Spain 0-2 England (International Friendly)
May 8, 1968 Spain 1-2 England (European Championships Qualifying Quarter-Final)
Apr 3, 1968 England 1-0 Spain (European Championships Qualifying Quarter-Final)
May 24, 1967: England 2-0 Spain (International Friendly)
Dec 8, 1965: Spain 0-2 England (International Friendly)
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