England going head-to-head with women's highest-paid footballer in Euro 2025 final
England will have to contend with the highest-paid female footballer if they are to retain their Women's Euro trophy this year. The Lionesses are set to do battle with Spain in the final of the tournament, with a chance to create history as the first English side to defend a major international honour successfully.
However, the Spaniards - who defeated England 1-0 to win the World Cup two years ago - stand in their way, and they have a pretty expensive weapon at their disposal. Aitana Bonmati is one of Spain's key players and is the sole reason the world champions are in the final in the first place.
The Barcelona playmaker stunned Germany with a swerving strike in the 113th minute of the semi-final to send her country to their first-ever Euro final last week.
The midfielder - who contracted viral meningitis before the tournament began - has been an extremely important star in the competition. Bonmati has scored and assisted once in five matches to help Spain to within 90 minutes of their ultimate goal.
Bonmati is widely report to the highest-paid female footballer right now - and eveidently, for good reason. The Barcelona star is said to pocked a whopping £835,000 weekly wage, which is over a quarter of a million more than her nearest competition.
Alexia Putellas, who also plays for Barcelona and Spain, earns the second-most with £584,000 - and England's biggest earner is fifth on the list, with Keira Walsh raking in £382,000 per annum.
Bonmati is a highly decorated footballer, with six Primera Division league titles, three Champions Leagues, seven Copa de la Reina wins and five Supercopa de España triumphs.
Individually, the 27-year-old has been named the Best FIFA Women's player on two occasions and has also won the Ballon d'Or Féminin twice, in 2023 and 2024.
The midfielder is also a current world champion and Nations League holder with Spain and hopes to add to her international honours with a European Championship win.
However, the Lionesses will be aiming to retain their Euros trophy and may have their own secret weapon. Both Lucy Bronze and the aforementioned Walsh played alongside Bonmati and a host of other Spanish players when they both starred for Barcelona, potentially giving them some insider information about their rivals' dangerwomen.
Spain and England have both had to show mettle in the latter stages of the tournmanet, with Sarina Wiegman's team requiring a penalty shootout to get past Sweden in the quarter-final and an injury-time equaliser and extra-time winning penalty in their semi-final win over Italy.
Meanwhile, Bonmati herself sent Spain to the final with a strike in extra-time against Germany last week, and may well be the hero once again for her country - although the Lionesses will hope that is not the case.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Rhyl Journal
13 minutes ago
- Rhyl Journal
Sarina Wiegman hopes impact of England's Euros win reverberates around the world
Three summers ago, it would have been impossible to imagine a goal more significant than the one scored by substitute Chloe Kelly in extra-time at Wembley to fire England to their first major trophy. But Kelly came through again when it counted most, emphatically netting the winning penalty in Basel as England completed their third-consecutive comeback victory to defend that title with a 3-1 penalties triumph over world champions Spain. 'I hope it will boost the women's game even more, not only in England, but beyond,' said Wiegman, who secured a personal hat-trick of European trophies after leading the Netherlands to glory in 2017, followed by the Lionesses' back-to-back wins. 'How I've experienced this tournament is that the level went up again, the intensity of the games went through the roof. That's what we've seen. 'We've seen it in the games, but also in the data we have. I think this tournament broke every record again and that's great, and I hope that that will boost the women's game everywhere. 'I don't really know what to expect now in England, I think it will boost again.' The Switzerland edition set a new record for the highest-attended women's Euros with 657,291 fans through the gates – indeed, one of the criticisms of the host selection during this tournament was that the women's game had perhaps already outgrown its privision of stadia. The final was the most-watched television moment of 2025 across all UK TV broadcasters, drawing a peak live audience of 12.2 million. Wiegman said she was 'very much looking forward' to celebrating their achievement – a first trophy for a senior England football side on foreign soil – on Tuesday back in London, where an open-top bus parade and celebration in front of Buckingham Palace are planned. After booking their place in Sunday's final, where England avenged their loss to Spain in the 2023 World Cup showdown, Wiegman said she felt like she was in a film. It's a good morning to wake up as EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS! 🙌 — Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 28, 2025 And she and could still scarcely believe the ending they wrote in Basel, exclaiming: 'How can this happen? But it happened!' Kelly netted the extra-time winner against Italy in the semi-final, while it took another shootout against Sweden in the quarter-finals to book their place in the last four – after 19-year-old major-tournament debutant Michelle Agyemang scored vital equalisers from off the bench in both contests. Arsenal forward Mariona Caldentey's 25th-minute opener on Sunday ensured England would need to script a threequel to their incredible series of comebacks. Alessia Russo drew the sides level after the break, ultimately forcing the shootout when the 1-1 stalemate remained intact after extra-time. Two saves by player-of-the-match Hannah Hampton and Salma Paralluelo's miss set the stage for Kelly, who picked out the top left and underlined her name in England's history books. It was, admitted Wiegman, 'the most chaotic and ridiculous tournament we have played'. Wiegman's players have praised their manager's pitch-perfect speeches throughout this campaign. On Sunday, she revealed: 'Right before we went on the pitch, I just said – I can't use all the words I said, I think – but the main message was 'enjoy it'. 'We've got so far now in this tournament, I think we created something again together. These are the moments you dream of, some couldn't even dream of because it wasn't possible when they were little kids. 'So go out there, enjoy it and play your very best game.'
Belfast Telegraph
13 minutes ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Celebrations in store as Lionesses successfully defend European crown
The Lionesses will celebrate their historic Euros victory with an open-top bus parade in central London and a trip to Downing Street, but there are no plans for a bank holiday.
Leader Live
13 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Leah Williamson hails ‘brave' England for being vulnerable in bid for Euro glory
The Arsenal defender became the first England football captain to lift two major tournament trophies – and a first on foreign soil – after Chloe Kelly scored the winning penalty in a dramatic 3-1 comeback shootout triumph over Women's World Cup holders Spain in Basel. It was the culmination of a topsy-turvy campaign described by manager Sarina Wiegman as 'ridiculous' and likened to a roller coaster by more than one member of her squad in Switzerland. Leah and European trophies, it just works. 🏆 — Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 28, 2025 Williamson said: 'I think, basically, you can have all of those (motivational) words, and sport has all those words circulating all the time, and then you have people that choose, it's really brave to put that into action and then decide that you're going to go for it. 'You leave yourself vulnerable, and if you try really, really hard, and it's not quite enough, then that's an awful feeling. 'I think to put yourself out there like that, the reward is so great, and we were brave enough to do it, and I think that's the key to the team. 'And Sarina, I just think she believes in us so much, it's hard not to believe that yourself. She said the same thing as she said before, 'we don't have to win, we really want to win, and we're capable of winning, so it's up to you girls'.' Sunday's victory was a fairy-tale ending for Kelly, who also scored the extra-time winner at Wembley when England lifted their first major trophy at Euro 2022. In January, the 27-year-old was feeling like an outcast at Manchester City, to the point of wondering if she would carry on in football, desperate for more playing time to earn her spot on England's plane to Switzerland. Kelly secured a deadline-day loan to Arsenal, since signing a permanent contract with the Women's Champions League winners that looked increasingly like a great deal for the Gunners with each passing day of this tournament. Williamson fought through an ankle issue in Switzerland, and it was Kelly who reassured her clubmate after Cata Coll saved the England captain's penalty in the final. 'I hit it a bit too low,' said Williamson. 'I'd have put it a bit higher if I could go back, but on the way back, Chloe said to me, 'don't worry about it, don't worry about it'. It's a good morning to wake up as EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS! 🙌 — Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 28, 2025 'And I think if there's anybody who is going to tell me that in a penalty shootout, I'll take it off her.' England forward Lauren Hemp had no words to describe how she felt after watching Kelly fire the winner past Coll. She said: 'It's hard to describe, I'm speechless, it's incredible. The fight this team has shown from minute one of the tournament to now, it's incredible and it's nothing short of what this group deserves. 'I feel like this team has shown belief throughout every single fixture and even when it went to penalties, we all believed.' The Lionesses won Euro 2025 despite leading for just four minutes and 52 seconds of the entire knockout stages, including stoppage time. Presented with that statistic, Hemp added: 'It's amazing and this group is so special. The grit, the determination we showed, it's not luck. 'It doesn't happen once, twice or three times for it to be luck. This is pure determination from this group. We're all knackered, we're all absolutely exhausted and we deserve that.'
