Tottenham Win 2024–25 Europa League Final After Victory Over Man Utd | OneFootball

Tottenham Hotspur have won this season’s Europa League after beating Manchester United in Wednesday night’s all-English final at San Mamés in Bilbao.

It was a drab final for large parts of the 90 minutes, without much of the way of attacking intent from either side, but Spurs took the lead in the closing stages of the first half in fortuitous circumstances.

Brennan Johnson didn’t get clean contact on Pape Sarr’s cross, but the movement of his run caused enough confusion that the ball ended up deflecting off Luke Shaw’s arm and back into the Tottenham forward’s path to scrape his studs at it as it crossed the line.

United didn’t really respond but were almost gifted an equaliser midway through the second half when Guglielmo Vicario fumbled what ought to have been a straightforward catch, and only Micky van de Ven’s acrobatic goal-line clearance kept Spurs in front from Rasmus Højlund’s header.

There was a spell of late pressure from Ruben Amorim’s United when Alejandro Garnacho was brought off the bench, perhaps too late to make a genuine impact, while Vicario made a save to deny Luke Shaw. But Spurs managed to see it through to claim their first major trophy since 2008.

Johnson opened the scoring for Spurs. / IMAGO / AOP.Press

Remarkably, Johnson is the first Spurs players to score in a final since Jonathan Woodgate in that 2008 victory, which came in a League Cup victory over Chelsea. But Tottenham have now won three Europa League (or UEFA Cup, as it was known prior to 2009–10) titles, following on from successes in 1971–72 and 1983–84. It makes them the joint-second most successful club in the competition’s history, alongside Inter, Liverpool, Juventus and Atlético Madrid. Only Sevilla (7) have won more.

Overdue major silverware aside, the prize for winning the Europa League is huge. Automatic entry into the league phase of next season’s Champions League is doesn’t just carry prestige, it’s the associated riches that are part and parcel of competing at European football’s top table.

Just being part of the league phase is a guaranteed £15.9 million ($21.4 million). There is then additional revenue for the final league position after eight matchdays, as well as every win or draw.

Each knockout round brings yet more riches, so the further a club goes in the competition, the more money they can earn. In total, Real Madrid pocketed €139 million ($157.5 million) for the winning last season’s Champions League. And while that is likely to be beyond Spurs in 2025–26, it serves as an example of just how lucrative, and therefore important to the accounts, being part of it truly is.