Women’s World Cup 2023 LIVE: Lionesses receive heartwarming homecoming as attention turns to next game

While England play Spain in the Women’s World Cup final, in the biggest game in football, there is also a record amount of prize money on the line for the winners.

Fifa announced before the tournament that a total fund of $152m (£126m) would be paid in prize money during the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Of that, there is a $110m (£86m) performance-based fund, more than three times more than $30m on offer during the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France. There is a further pot $42.5m which has been put aside for preparation funding and club benefits.

The Women’s World Cup has concluded. After more than four weeks of dramatic action in Australia, Spain defeated England in the final on Sunday to reach the highest of peaks and, with it, footballing immortality.

It’s not over the top to suggest it as such, either; some of the sport’s most iconic and memorable images down the years have come from this very tournament and that very match, both in the women’s and men’s games: Birgit Prinz’s joy in 2007, Lionel Messi lifting the trophy adorned in a bisht in Qatar, Brandi Chastain’s shirt-off shootout celebration, Pele carried off the Azteca pitch in 1970.

Those images are as much a part of football history as the games and players themselves – yet the people who bring those moments, those stories to life are, by the very nature of being behind the camera, rarely as prominent.

Spain skipper Olga Carmona has dedicated her World Cup triumph to her late father after firing the nation to victory over England.

The 23-year-old learned that her father had died after scoring the only goal in Sunday’s 1-0 victory over the Lionesses in Sydney.

Real Madrid defender Carmona said in a tweet on Monday: “I have no words to thank you for all your love.”

Rishi Sunak has been mocked for his commiseration tweet after the Lionesses lost the women’s World Cup final 1-0 to Spain.

In a post on Twitter, now known as X, the prime minister told the England football team: “You left absolutely nothing out there, Lionesses.”

Senior Labour MP Angela Eagle pointed out that he had muddled what was intended to be a supportive comment about Sarina Wiegman’s side’s efforts in the contest.

England’s World Cup finalists received a warm welcome as they started their long journey back to the United Kingdom on Monday morning.

The Lionesses, who reached the final of the Women’s World Cup, were agonisingly beaten by Spain 1-0 on Sunday.

It was the first time any England team had reached the World Cup final in 57 years, but it was not to be and Olga Carmona’s goal secured a first trophy for Spain’s women’s team.

Starting their journey home, the Lionesses were applauded through Sydney Airport by passengers in a heartwarming moment.

An exhibition in how to win a World Cup and a final that delivered a painful example of what England need to do. Sarina Wiegman took her side to the very brink, but something was still just missing against a brilliant Spain. The Women’s World Cup has new champions, but it isn’t England. Spain had the one element that the European champions still lack, beyond that glorious trophy itself. They are the only women’s side with a profound football identity, which amplifies everything they do from within and was visible in the Olga Carmona goal that settled this contest. It was a fittingly divine strike to win a fixture like this.

Against that, Wiegman could only try to rearrange the pieces to give Spain more of a puzzle to solve. It has been her great strength, but it wasn’t enough. She sadly experiences defeat in successive World Cup finals, this one may be all the more painful because her side had seemed more primed for it.

It was only 1-0 but the gap in pure football terms felt far greater. This is the immense challenge in facing this Spain, what space to protect, how far you can go. Even Wiegman eventually found a problem she couldn’t solve. It was a challenge – and a game – too far.

In an interview with England Football to discuss and reflect on the Women’s World Cup and the journey that took England all the way to the final, Sarina Wiegman said:

“We’ve shown there is a lot of talent and we have shown there are also areas in which to grow. We had some injuries where players stepped up. Participating in a tournament for the first time is such a big thing to have in the bag to move forward and hopefully to the next tournament.

“You try to play at your best. We had our challenges and we had very hard games. We’ve also played against countries from every continent, each with their own philosophy, and we found a way to win.

“I’m really proud to have made it to the final. Then you hope to win the final but I know it is hard to make a final anyway and it is special to do so.

“This tournament has broken records. We received such a warm welcome, everything was so well organised, the people here were so nice to us and tried to facilitate us the best way they could, and we felt that.

“The crowds were very exciting and very impressive too. The level of the game has improved so much, in physicality, in a technical way, the tactical way and every country needs to step up to stay at the top.

“The countries just beneath the top are getting closer and closer and I just hope that worldwide, people will have seen it and the people who are responsible now say ‘ok, we have to take the women’s game to the next level and we are now going to give it a boost’.”

England’s Lionesses were applauded as they began the journey home from Australia after their World Cup Final defeat. Sarina Wiegman’s side lost 1-0 to Spain in a tight match in Sydney on Sunday.

However, footage on social media showed the team being clapped and cheered at Sydney Airport on Monday ahead of their flight back to the UK.

Players signed autographs and took pictures with fans, while head coach Wiegman was seen waving and smiling.

England boss Sarina Wiegman felt the Lionesses exhausted every effort to win their first Women’s World Cup final despite coming up just short with a 1-0 loss to Spain in Sydney.

The Dutch boss, who led England to their first major trophy at last summer’s European Championship, finds herself with a silver medal in two consecutive attempts after steering 2019 runners-up the Netherlands to the title-decider four years ago in France.

Second place is still a best-ever finish for the Lionesses in a global showpiece, beating their bronze medal from 2015, but the three-time FIFA Best winning coach knows from experience it may take some time before the sting subsides.

“It feels really bad, of course, and very disappointed, but still very proud of the team. I’m just hurt about this moment. Losing a game and in a final, when you’re in a final you want to win it.”

Read the England coaches full thoughts below:

“Last summer we saw the Lionesses emerge to national stardom, with a decisive victory at a home tournament, the country united behind them and a generation of girls inspired. While the men’s game became more muddied by scenes of violence at the Euros, sportswashing and corrupt ownership, women’s football offered the perfect therapy – complete with a fairytale ending.

“Yesterday, I willed myself to find the same level of optimism. The sun shone much like last year, and though there didn’t seem to be quite the same level of national euphoria, my corner of London’s women’s football fandom was giddy ahead of the match.

“Ultimately, it was not to be. We failed to find an equaliser. As the England manager graciously referenced in her post-match interview, Spain were the better team on the day and that is, as pundits have somewhat comically laboured over the last month, “tournament football”. Yet the day after the final, and as the pain of the loss subsides, it remains tough as a fan to countenance what is ultimately an imperfect narrative, for both this match and the tournament as a whole.”

There was no fairytale ending for the Lionesses – and away from the pitch, there was a disturbing sting in the tale of Spain’s victory, writes Alex Greenwood: