England head coach Sarine Wiegman was very much aware of the concept of legacy as she prepared her team for their European Championship final but, in truth, the only thing that truly matters is winning the tournament. The rest will take care of itself.
England take on Germany at a sold out Wembley on Sunday evening (kick-off: 5pm) with a nation increasingly enraptured by the Lionesses and the importance of their journey to a wider audience, with BBC’s viewing figures having topped 7million for both the quarter and semi-final wins.
But fundamentally England have a chance to secure their first major honour in the women’s game having reached this stage twice before in the Euros, losing in 1984 and 2009, with Germany the victors in the latter tournament.
Ahead of the game, here is all your need-to-know info…
Kick-off time and how to watch
The game is being shown live on BBC One with their coverage beginning at 3:50pm ahead of the 5pm kick-off time. You can also stream for free via the BBC iPlayer in the UK while EE customers can also access coverage on the platform without using any data.
BBC 5Live will also be bringing full match commentary with their coverage starting at 4pm.
Team news
England head coach Sarina Wiegman has named the same starting XI for all five matches of the tournament so far and there has been no indication of any injuries picked up during or since the semi-final victory over Sweden.
Germany forward Klara Buhl has been ruled out of the final after missing their triumph over France in the last four meaning Svenja Huth and Jule Brand will likely start alongside Alexandra Popp in attack.
Likely line-ups
England (4-2-3-1): Earps; Bronze, Bright, Williamson, Daly; Walsh, Stanway; Mead, Kirby, Hemp; White
Germany (4-3-3): Frohms; Gwinn, Hendrich, Hegering, Rauch; Magull, Oberdorf, Dabritz; Huth, Popp, Brand
What the head coaches are saying
England’s Sarina Wiegman said: “I don't know what is a perfect game because whoever is in front of us, we want to beat. We just really want to win the final.
"We want so badly to show again how good we are and play our best game. Hopefully that will bring us the win. We talk about their players but not the history."
Germany’s Martina Voss-Tecklenburg said: “They are so confident and know what they have to do, but the first 30 minutes against Sweden showed you can hurt them and that will be our task. We’ll play in front of 80,000 or 90,000 supporters at Wembley, most of them rooting for England, but we accept the challenge.”
Head-to-head record
The teams have met 30 times in international competitions and friendlies with the German’s traditionally dominant.
England wins - 10
Draws - 0
Germany wins - 20
Match odds
England - 29/20
Draw - 21/10
Germany - 15/8
