Euro 2024 Final: How Spain versus England stacks up beyond the football

By Marilen Martin

Spain is about to take on England in the final of the Euro 2024 football tournament — boasting a superior performance both on and off the pitch.

Before Sunday’s competition decider, Spain is the clear favorite among bookmakers, having won all six of its games so far while scoring 13 goals from a whopping 108 attempts. England, by contrast, has only prevailed in four of its clashes, managing just 66 shots and netting just over half as many times as its opponent.

Over the longer term Spain has a more impressive track record, too, with three European crowns. England has never been victorious.

Of course, anything can happen in a one-off match-up and England shouldn’t be written off. Away from the action, though, Spain can also claim superiority: A look at the two countries’ economic records reveals that — beyond the pandemic — Spanish growth has outshone its rival.

And looking in more detail at the two populations, there may be more reason to suspect the parties will be raging in Madrid rather than London this weekend. Based on exercise and life expectancy, Spain has a healthier pool of men from which to draw its team.

It’s not all bad news for England.

It can claim a higher number of young men of prime footballing age. What’s more, the national team’s players aren’t just younger on average — despite Spain featuring 16-year-old wunderkind Lamine Yamal  — they’re also valued significantly higher on the transfer market.

Then there’s the added incentive of earning their countrymen an extra day to celebrate, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer toying with the idea of granting a day off should England win.

That would boost what’s currently a poor head-to-head score with Spain on public holidays. The latter is way ahead, by 14 to eight.

The ultimate winner will become clear from 9 p.m. Sunday in Berlin. Perhaps the spectacle will offer a distraction to fans of host nation Germany, who are still smarting from their own controversial exit at the hands of Spain in the quarter-final.