Euro 2024 Live: Follow the build-up to Sunday's final with theScore

Welcome to theScore’s live coverage of the Euro 2024 final. Follow along for the latest updates and get instant analysis of the biggest plays and moments as they happen. Pull page down to refresh.

🇪🇸 Spain vs. England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Venue: Olympiastadion (Berlin)
Kickoff: 3 p.m. ET
Referee: Francois Letexier (France)
VAR: Jerome Brisard (France)
TV: FOX, TUDN, Univision (U.S.); TSN, TLN (Canada)
Stream: fuboTV, FOX Sports (U.S.); CTV (Canada)

Does Southgate get too much hate? 🤔

Gareth Southgate has had beers thrown at him, questions asked of him, and the weight of a nation placed upon him. People made jokes about Southgate wearing a life jacket to a bath and memes of him scribbling nonsense in the middle of matches. Critics thought his football was too safe to win anything at Euro 2024. And yet here he is, one match away from leading England to its first-ever European Championship.

But how much credit can he take for England’s run to the final? Objectively speaking, his team hasn’t played well. It has won three of its six matches in Germany with an expected non-penalty goal difference of -0.7, meaning it has conceded more genuine scoring chances than it has generated. Those wins also owe a lot to the individual brilliance of Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane, and Ollie Watkins, scorer of England’s 90th-minute semifinal winner.

But it was Southgate’s decision to keep Bellingham and Kane on the pitch in the round of 16 against Slovakia. Their goals eventually secured England’s passage to the quarterfinals. It was Southgate’s decision to throw on Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold in the quarterfinals against Switzerland. Their penalties helped England win the shootout. And it was Southgate’s decision to throw on Watkins with less than nine minutes to go against the Dutch. His goal got them to Berlin.

Shaw returns to England XI 📋

Gareth Southgate makes just one change to the team that beat the Netherlands in the semifinals, and it’s a big one: Luke Shaw will start for England for the first time in over a year. Shaw missed the last three months of Manchester United’s season due to injury but retained his place in Southgate’s squad and made appearances off the bench in the quarterfinals and semifinals. Kieran Trippier drops to the bench, but Kobbie Mainoo keeps his place in midfield after starting in England’s previous three knockout matches.

Jordan Pickford; Kyle Walker, John Stones, Marc Guehi; Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo, Luke Shaw; Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden; Harry Kane

A glance at each finalist 🔎

Sunday’s final is a game between ideas and cold-blooded assassins. The Spanish have turned tiki-taka into a more progressive form of football that grants freedom to its most creative players. The English, meanwhile, have relied on individual talent to produce game-changing moments.

They took much different paths to Berlin. Spain fought off Georgia, Germany, and France to reach the final and played some seriously aggressive football to beat all three. England benefited from a kinder draw against Slovakia, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, and required extra time and a shootout to beat the first two.

Related: Everything you need to know about Euro 2024 final

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente has praised his players for the collective effort they’ve shown over the last month. While Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo, and Nico Williams have each inspired Spain to victory, they’re not the only reasons La Roja have made it this far. Fabian Ruiz’s runs into the box have heaped pressure on opponents, and Rodri has done an excellent job keeping things clean in midfield. Spain’s defense has only allowed three goals all tournament, and one of them was an own goal.

Even if England has had an easier route, it hasn’t necessarily had an easier time. If not for Jude Bellingham’s 95th-minute overhead kick against Slovakia, he and his teammates would’ve been watching the final from home. Whether by design or not, England has played largely safe football in Germany, and although it finally sprang to life in the first half of its semifinal against the Dutch, that spell only lasted 45 minutes. Ollie Watkins scored off the bench in the 90th to snatch another victory for the English.

Spain XI released early 📋

The lineups usually come out an hour before kickoff, but Spain has avoided any potential leaks by releasing its starting 11 nearly two hours early. Not that there are any surprises anyway. Robin Le Normand replaces Nacho Fernandez at center-back after serving a one-match suspension for yellow card accumulation, Dani Olmo retains his place in the lineup after relieving the injured Pedri in Spain’s quarterfinal win over Germany, and Lamine Yamal, now 17, earns his sixth start of the tournament. Yamal is the youngest player to feature in a Euro final.

Unai Simon; Dani Carvajal, Robin Le Normand, Aymeric Laporte, Marc Cucurella; Rodri, Fabian Ruiz; Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo, Nico Williams; Alvaro Morata

Welcome! 👋

Good afternoon! Welcome to theScore’s live coverage of the Euro 2024 final between Spain and England.

Before we get into it, let’s do a little housekeeping. You’ll find everything you need to know about Sunday’s title match right here, including all the pre-match hype, play-by-play of key moments, and our thoughts and analysis before and after the trophy is lifted. Swipe down to refresh the page and follow along as the big game progresses.

Now, the fun part begins. Spain is looking to win a record fourth European Championship, while England bids for its first major men’s title in 58 long years. The oddsmakers see Spain as the favorite, and it’s understandable: Spain has won all six matches at Euro 2024, while England has a split 3-3-0 record. But it’s one match, and the Three Lions have demonstrated an uncanny ability to turn matches on their head in the most critical moments.

Keep theScore on hand as we navigate the ups and downs of what should be a thrilling final.