Spain won the "final" versus England to qualify for Women's World Cup 2027. Both nations, the champions of the World and the champions of Europe (and runner-ups of the World and runner-ups of Europe) had coincided in Group A3 of the UEFA qualification process for World Cup 2027... and only the group leader would get direct qualification for the competition.
Spain, France, Denmark, and Germany were the four group leaders of the group stage and will avoid participating in the play-offs later this year.
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England took the first blow, defeating Spain at Wembley last April, 1-0. However, Spain responded with a 4-0 thrashing in Palma de Mallorca last Friday. Then, on Tuesday, the final matchday of the qualification took place, and England was hoping that Spain would stumble... but that didn't happen: Spain thrashed Iceland 6-1 and qualified as group leaders.
England did their homework and also defeated Ukraine 3-0, but that wasn't enough as Spain had a much better goal difference: +18 to qualify as group leaders, after scoring 21 goals in six matches, and only conceding 3 goals (five victories, only one loss against England). In contrast, although England also nearly had a clean sweep (five wins, only lost to Spain), they had scored 13 goals and conceded 5, making for a goal difference of +8.
Not a huge problem, as all the other members of the groups have qualified for play-offs, to be played between September and December 2026. There will be other seven UEFA nations in Women's World Cup 2027.