England’s hopes of reaching the Women’s World Cup directly suffered a major setback as Spain claimed a 4-0 victory in Mallorca, handing Sarina Wiegman the heaviest defeat of this England tenure and moving above England in Group C with one match remaining.

The result leaves England needing help from elsewhere. Even if England beat Ukraine in the final group fixture on Tuesday, top position in Group C will only be secured if that result is better than Spain’s outcome against Iceland in the other decisive qualifier.

Alexia Putellas scored twice, with one goal in each half, while Patri Guijarro and Claudia Pina added further strikes as Spain became the first team to put four goals past England in a Women’s World Cup qualifier, ending a run without such a defeat that stretched back to November 2002.

Despite the heavy scoreline, England had gone into the match with vast experience on the pitch. The starting line-up combined for 763 caps, the second-highest total during Wiegman’s time in charge, behind only the 774 caps recorded by the XI selected for the 2025 Women’s Euro final.

Midfielder Keira Walsh gave a blunt assessment of England’s performance. Walsh told ITV: “I just think there was a lot of areas we weren’t good enough. Spain played incredibly well at home, but I think there are a lot of things we could have done better. I don’t think we were good enough, but they were very, very sharp, so that made it a very difficult game for us.”

Walsh described the pressure England faced inside their own penalty area and highlighted the lack of answers on the night, saying: “It felt like they had bodies everywhere. It was very difficult to get out of our own box. I don’t have solutions. Obviously, we’ll look back, but right now the emotions are very highit was a disappointing game. We’ve still got a small chance to qualify. It’s out of our hands. All we can do is control how we play the next game and hope Iceland do us a favour.”

Spain’s dominance was clear in the numbers as well as the score. Playing in Mallorca, the hosts attempted 21 shots and generated 3.5 expected goals (xG), while England managed only three efforts, all off target, and finished with 0.2 xG from a match in which the visitors rarely threatened.

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Group C now hinges on the final round of fixtures. Spain’s win moved La Roja above England, so Wiegman’s side must defeat Ukraine and also rely on Iceland preventing Spain from matching or bettering England’s result, otherwise the route to the Women’s World Cup will continue through other qualification routes.

Sarina Wiegman acknowledged the gulf on the night when speaking to ITV. Wiegman said: “A very difficult night. The difference was big. We weren’t at our best, although I thought we started well. When they got into a rhythm and got the first goal, we didn’t get to our strengths, and they played really well. It also has to do with a very good Spain tonight.”

Wiegman also reflected on England’s tactical choices in possession, adding: “We wanted to harm them in the back in the first half, especially after those couple of moments that started well, we played short and harmed ourselves. We should have skipped players, and we just didn’t get there. We found it really hard to keep the ball. It has to do with us and also Spain. We need to stick together, and we have one more game on Tuesday to show what we can do. These are the hardest moments. We have to recover from this and show we are still a very good team.”

With Spain’s victory ending several long England records in qualifiers and pushing Group C out of England’s control, the focus now moves to response and resilience, as Wiegman and the squad attempt to reset quickly before facing Ukraine and wait to see whether Iceland can create an opening against Spain.