Spain and Germany are set to meet this afternoon for their final game of the Paris Olympics, with only one team being able to secure a medal.
The road to the bronze medal match
Both teams fighting for bronze started their journey in different groups.
Germany who were in Group B competed against Australia, USA and Zambia, securing their place in the knockout stages after two wins out of the three games.
Spain, however, started out in Group C and came head to head with Japan, Nigeria and Brazil.
Despite facing a challenging group, Spain emerged victorious and progressed into the next round, following a successive three wins out of three games.
Both teams were in danger as both their quarter-finals games resulted in penalties.
Spain made a late comeback against Columbia, making the scoreline level, while Germany failed to score against Canada making it all to play for.
Both teams won their penalty shootouts 4-2, securing themselves a spot in the final four.
On Tuesday 6 August, both teams played the match which would determine whether they could go for gold.
Germany faced USA in a rematch, with the hope of changing the 4-1 scoreline to one that favours them.
It was all to play for as no team managed to find the back of the net, however after just five minutes of extra time, Germany saw themselves in danger as USA put themselves ahead.
As the full time whistle blew and the rematch came to an end, Germany’s hopes of an Olympic gold were extinguished.
Spain were also set a rematch against Brazil, however early on it was clear that Spain wouldn’t have the same luck as they did in the group stage.
After just 45 minutes, Brazil were ahead and it was looking more prominent by the minute that Spain would fail to qualify for the final.
Despite their last two goals it was too late to make a difference as Brazil took the victory 4-2.
Past international performance
The last time these two teams played in a major tournament, was the 2023 Women’s World Cup which was hosted in Australia and New Zealand.
Spain went on to become World Cup winners after beating the Lionesses 1-0 in the World Cup final.
Germany, who were runner ups to the Lionesses in the Euro’s failed to make it out of the group stages after drawing against South Korea and suffering a loss against Columbia.
Their poor showing came a shock to viewers having opened their group games with a 6-0 win against Morocco.
Where to watch
Spain and Germany compete for an Olympic Bronze medal this afternoon (Friday 9th August) at 2pm BST.
The match is set to be played at the Groupama Stadium and can be watched on Discovery+.
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