What an exciting time for the England Women’s football team, more commonly referred to as the Lionesses. Having successfully come through a tricky semi-final contest against the hosts Australia, the team is now preparing to take on Spain in its first ever World Cup final.  

Despite winning the European Championship last in 2022, for many of the England players this will be the pinnacle of their career to date. But having already won a major tournament, what additional pressure and demands does that place on the England squad and the accompanying staff? 

Well, prior to Wednesday afternoon, the England women’s team had never progressed beyond the semi-final. The fact they have booked their place in Sunday’s main event shows they are a team already dealing with the pressure and weight of history. However, going into the final as reigning European champions and favourites in this tournament, expectations are high that another trophy is about to be ‘coming home’ and the ‘favourites’ tag could weigh heavily. 

Adding to that expectation is the fact England is ranked above Spain in the world rankings, with the Lionesses fourth and ‘La Roja’ sitting sixth. Spain is also one of the teams England eliminated in last year’s EUROs, beating them in the quarter-finals, although they did require extra time to do so.  

So how can England meet these challenges and prevail in what will be an emotional cauldron?  

The moniker ‘Lionesses’ offers some insight into how England should perform. Whilst individual brilliance might produce a goal or outcome-affecting play, the ‘lionesses’ must work as a group (or ‘pride’ to stretch the analogy) to achieve the outcome they, and their supporters, so desire.  

In team sports, it is usually the team that plays best as a group that win-out over individual talents, and so a shared belief in the task at hand and how to complete it, good communication between players and coaches collectively, support for one another and an ability to respond appropriately to team-mates’ behaviours around them is crucial. For example, by responding to team-mates’ behaviours (e.g., noticing tell-tale signs that may reflect emotional states), and then supporting those players verbally, behaviourally or tactically will add to the team’s effectiveness.  

England has the experience of winning the EUROs and needs to bring this experience to bear on this tournament. That could be achieved through the coaching staff reminding those who were involved in the EUROs of their previous success and on what it was built, or sharing those experiences and instilling the same mindset and approach into those who were not in that triumphant squad. 

The England team needs to play to its strengths, and make sure the (positive) psychological momentum stays with them. Whilst various theoretical models of psychological momentum exist, key is players retaining positive beliefs about their likely success and their individual and collective capabilities to achieve it, even in the face of negative occurrences in a game such as missed shots or conceding a goal. 

Clear heads, good game strategy, contingency (‘what-if’) planning (including penalty arrangements!) and a solid shared belief in their collective abilities will be invaluable assets. Given the historic sporting rivalry between England and Australia, which we have seen throughout this summer, the Lionesses can probably expect the crowd to be in support of their opposition, so discussing how they deal with this as a group and mentally preparing for it as players will also be essential. 

The pressure is on, but the Lionesses are well-equipped and well-versed in dealing with it. So, hopefully, England supporters will be celebrating a World Cup win and taking great pride in the Pride come Sunday afternoon. 

Dr Christopher Sellars is Head of School of Sport and Wellbeing at Leeds Trinity University, with an applied and academic background in sports development, coach education and sports science.