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Spain, England to Meet in European Championship Final in Front of Prince William, King Felipe

The match is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) in Berlin - The AP
The match is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) in Berlin - The AP
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Spain, England to Meet in European Championship Final in Front of Prince William, King Felipe

The match is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) in Berlin - The AP
The match is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) in Berlin - The AP

Spain and England will meet in the European Championship final on Sunday, with much of the focus on a teenage wonderkid and whether one of the world's most underachieving teams can end its decades-long wait for a title, The AP reported.

The match is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) in Berlin and is expected to be attended by Prince William, Spain's King Felipe, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Keir Starmer, Britain’s new prime minister.

Spain is bidding to win the Euros for a record fourth time, breaking a tie with Germany/West Germany, and for the first time since 2012. The team's new superstar is winger Lamine Yamal, a prodigy who turned 17 on Saturday.

England, who lays claim to be the birthplace of soccer, hasn't won a major title since the 1966 World Cup and that was on home soil. This is the team's second straight European Championship final, having lost in a penalty shootout in the final to Italy three years ago.

The teams have taken different paths to the final, which will take place at Berlin's Olympiastadion — the 71,000-seat venue built for the 1936 Olympic Games and which hosted the 2006 World Cup final that featured Zinedine Zidane's infamous headbutt.

Spain has won all six of its matches and is widely regarded as the best team at Euro 2024, having seen off Germany and France in the knockout stage. England was unimpressive in the group stage and has shown resilience in coming from behind in all three of its knockout-stage games.

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Filipino Gymnast Who Won 2 Olympic Golds in Paris Gets Hero's Welcome

Filipino gymnast Carlo Yulo, who won two gold medals in the Paris Olympics, arrives in Manila, Philippines, on Tuesday, Aug 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)
Filipino gymnast Carlo Yulo, who won two gold medals in the Paris Olympics, arrives in Manila, Philippines, on Tuesday, Aug 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)
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Filipino Gymnast Who Won 2 Olympic Golds in Paris Gets Hero's Welcome

Filipino gymnast Carlo Yulo, who won two gold medals in the Paris Olympics, arrives in Manila, Philippines, on Tuesday, Aug 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)
Filipino gymnast Carlo Yulo, who won two gold medals in the Paris Olympics, arrives in Manila, Philippines, on Tuesday, Aug 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)

Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo, who won two gold medals in the Paris Olympics, flew home to a hero’s welcome Tuesday with a planned national tribute by the president and donors pledging more than $1 million worth of cash and gifts, including a resort house and free lunch buffets for life.

The 24-year-old’s wins in the men’s floor exercise and vault were the largest victory ever by a Filipino athlete since the Philippines joined the Games a century ago. Two Filipino boxers, Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas, won bronze medals in women’s boxing in Paris.

The euphoria over Yulo's wins has provided a respite for a nation long ridden with poverty, deep divisions and conflicts, The AP reported.

“Filipinos all over the world stood united, cheering and rooting for you,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said after Yulo, fondly called Caloy by friends, captured his second Olympic gold. “No words can express how proud we are of you, Caloy. You have achieved GOLD for the Philippines, not once, but twice!”

Arriving in Manila, Yulo and the other Filipino athletes who participated in the Olympics were welcomed by flag-waving admirers who yelled his name, reached out for handshakes and took selfies. The athletes were met by their families before proceeding to the Malacanang palace, where Marcos would honor them with medals and cash gifts, officials said.

Cash and gifts pledged by the government, business tycoons and leading Philippine corporations for Yulo, including a condominium unit and a resort house south of Manila, would amount to more than 58 million pesos ($1 million). Prominent companies offered free pizzas, ice cream and lunch and dinner buffets for life.

Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao, who rose to global fame for winning titles in eight different weight classes and for his rags-to-riches life story, promised to reward Yulo with an unspecified amount of cash.

A celebratory parade for Yulo and the other athletes on Wednesday along Manila’s main streets is expected to draw thousands of people. It will pass near a poor community where he grew up and first trained in gymnastics with his siblings in a public gym, where a coach first noticed the impressive skills of the then-7-year-old.

"I’ll welcome him with a hug and we’ll jump together in joy,” Rodrigo Frisco, a 74-year-old relative, told The Associated Press in the neighborhood where the gold medalist has become a poster boy for hope. “Who would believe that these narrow alleys and small houses would produce a champion?”

Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz clinched the first-ever Olympic gold for the Philippines in Tokyo in 2021.