England beat Germany 2-1 in the final of the European Championship after extra time on Sunday to win its first major women’s soccer title, reports.
Chloe Kelly scored the winning goal on a rebound in the second half of extra time after Germany failed to clear a corner, reports AP.
The game had finished 1-1 after 90 minutes at Wembley Stadium with Lina Magull for Germany canceling out Ella Toone’s goal for England.
The tournament-record crowd of more than 87,000 underlined the growth of women’s soccer in Europe since the last time England and Germany played for a continental title 13 years ago.
On that occasion, Germany surged to a 6-2 win over an England team which still relied on part-time players.
Two years later, England launched its Women’s Super League, which has professionalized the game and grown into one of the main competitions worldwide.
That has meant increasing competition for Germany, which was a pioneering nation in European women’s soccer and increasingly faces well-funded rivals in England, Spain and France.
England’s title comes 56 years after the nation’s only major men’s title which was also an extra-time win at Wembley over Germany at the 1966 World Cup.
