UEFA Women’s Nations League: Germany and Spain share the win in the first leg of the final

World champions Spain held Germany to a scoreless draw in the first leg of the UEFA Women’s Nations League final in Kaiserslautern on Friday as goalkeeper Cata Coll made a number of crucial saves ahead of Tuesday’s second leg in Madrid.

The Germans dominated much of the match, while Spain sat deep to protect their goal and seemingly banked on winning the title at home.

Klara Buhl, who had four clear chances in the first half, said against Germany ZDF, «We played incredibly bravely and are bitter that we didn’t score.»

The Bayern Munich forward said her side were buoyed by their performances ahead of next week’s decisive match.

“Now we have a classic final (single match) and we are extremely excited about it,” Buhl added.

Germany coach Christian Wuck said his team showed that “we can not only compete, but even play our own game against a team like Spain”.

However, he was left frustrated as his team “couldn’t reward ourselves again” despite creating several chances.

Germany came into the match talking about taking revenge on the World Cup winner, who knocked them out of the Euro 2025 semi-finals in Switzerland in July.

Before the match, Spanish coach Sonia Bermudez promised her side would “not play for a draw” but seemed to do just that: sit deep, slow down the game and draw boos from the home crowd.

In the first half, Franziska Kett forced Coll into a desperate save with her feet.

Jule Brand had a better chance moments later, but Irene Paredes cleared the ball off the line.

Spain’s best chance came when Esther Gonzalez hit the post after 52 minutes.

Buhl also hit the post in the 71st minute, while Coll was left flat-footed.

The hosts had a late chance to win the ball in stoppage time when Jule Brand passed the ball to Sjoeke Nusken, but Coll was alert to run out of her penalty area and clear the danger.

Published on November 29, 2025