Women’s World Cup final: Pitch invader briefly halts play between Spain and England

AP
Jonathan Gorrie20 August 2023

The Women’s World Cup final was briefly interrupted by an onrushing pitch invader.

Spain and England met in Sydney’s Stadium Australia for Sunday’s final in front of a sold out crowd.

The showpiece event was briefly halted as the intruder ran onto the pitch in the 24 minute before they were tackled by stewards.

There was a small delay as England prepared to take a free-kick but the incident was dealt with quickly and play quickly got back underway.

The invader, wearing a mask, was seemingly protesting against Russian president Vladimir Putin.

They were wearing a T-shirt featuring a picture of Putin likened to former German dictator Adolf Hitler with the message: “Stop Putler."

The back of the shirt showed a photo of the Ukraine flag accompanied by the slogan: “Free Ukraine.”

Spain took a 1-0 lead into-half time following Olga Carmona’s goal to put them into contention to win their first World Cup.

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