Spain won the FIFA Women's Under-20 World Cup, after defeating North Korea 4-3 on penalty kicks, after a goalless draw in the final of the tournament that concluded Sunday in Poland.
The Spanish national team won the title for the second time in its history, after previously winning the title in 2022, and it succeeded in stripping the North Korean national team of the title that it won in 2024.
The Spanish team is now in second place among the teams that have won the title the most with two wins, behind the American, German and North Korean teams with three wins each.
The two teams did not succeed in translating the opportunities afforded to each of them into goals throughout the 90 minutes, so two additional periods were resorted to, during which nothing new happened, and penalty kicks were resorted to, which smiled at Spain, which won 4-3.
On its way to winning the title for the second time in its history, Spain beat Nigeria 2-0, then beat New Caledonia 11-0 and beat China 1-3 in the group stage.
In the round of sixteen, Spain defeated Portugal 2-0, then faced Brazil in the quarter-finals but beat them 1-0, then beat Italy 2-0 in the semi-finals.
The Hungarian Veszprem team qualified for the final of the Men's Club World Cup Handball Championship, currently being held in Egypt, after its exciting victory over Germany's Fuchs Berlin, with a score of 34-33, on Sunday, in the second round of the second group of the competition's group stage.
The Hungarian team is guaranteed to qualify for the final match of the tournament, which will conclude on the first of next October, after clinching the top spot in the group with two victories, raising its score to 4 points, before playing its last match in the group stage against Burgan of Kuwait.
Veszprem had won its first match against Al-Ahly of Egypt, setting up a final match with Barcelona, which also secured the top spot in Group A.
Barcelona achieved an easy victory over Zamalek of Egypt, with a score of 39-29, earlier on Sunday, in the second round of the first group, raising its score to 4 points, achieving the full score so far, after winning the first two rounds.
Italian Vincenzo Montella, coach of the Turkish national team, pledged to lead his team to victory over Italy in the European Nations League, on Monday.
The Turkish national team began its journey in Group A in the first level of the continental competition, with a 0-1 loss to its guest, France, on Friday.
The goal scored by Kylian Mbappe in the 54th minute of the match was enough to give the French national team its first victory under the leadership of its new coach, Zinedine Zidane, at the “Turka Arak Moyane Kogali” stadium.
Goalkeeper Ugurcan Shakir received a red card late in the match for handling the ball with his hand outside the penalty area, but Montella expressed his great happiness with his team’s performance against France’s star-studded squad.
The Montella team will face the Italian national team, which opened the second term of its coach, Roberto Mancini, with a 0-2 loss to its guest, the Belgium national team, with Mika Godets and Dodi Lukebakio each scoring a goal in each half. Giving coach Mark van Bommel a successful start in his first match with his country's national team.
This is the first confrontation between the Turkish and Italian teams since their 0-0 draw in an international friendly match held in June 2024, but the Blue team has a good record in these direct confrontations.
The Italian national team had never lost to Türkiye in the previous 14 matches, achieving 10 victories compared to 4 draws.
Despite this, Montella believes that his team's performance against France represents a strong foundation on which to build, and he expressed his confidence in his team's ability to defeat Italy tomorrow in the second round of the group.
The Soccer News website reported Montella’s speech to his players, where he said: “You all gave a wonderful performance and showed a high fighting spirit.”
He added: “We conceded a goal due to a moment of loss of concentration, but we could have won this match.”
He continued, saying: “Now we will gather our strength immediately, and focus our full attention on the Italy match. “We will win this time, as long as we play with the same discipline and passion.”
Türkiye occupies third place in the group standings after the end of the opening round competitions, awaiting two upcoming confrontations against Belgium and Italy before the end of the international break.
