England and Brazil needed penalties to determine the first-ever winners of the inaugural women’s edition of the Finalissima on Thursday with Lionesses winning on penalty kicks. The European champions and Copa America title holders met at Wembley and played to a 1-1 scoreline in regulation and went straight to penalties to decide the winners. Chloe Kelly delivered the match-winning penalty for the hosts to earn them yet another trophy.
The competition, a quadrennial one-off match initially founded in 1985 between CONMEBOL and UEFA for men’s national teams, was announced in 2022 as part of a renewed partnership between the two federations. Both England and Brazil are ranked No. 4 and No. 9 respectively, they are reigning champions of their home continents and have expectations to lift a World Cup this summer at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The first men’s edition since 1993 was played last year as Argentina defeated Italy,…
