Lionesses place in history already written as World Cup final offers boost to London legacy

It took just eight minutes for three London fanzones to sell out ahead of the Women's World Cup final. It's taken a heck of a lot longer for the England team to get the respect they deserve.

Judging by Gianni Infantino's comments ahead of Sunday's final there's still a long way to go on that front. The FIFA president's latest moronic monologue will be the furthest thing from the Lionesses minds when the game kicks off in Sydney though.

Sarina Wiegman has remained relatively coy on what her pre-match message will be to the first England squad to make it to a World Cup final since 1966. You would probably be safe in betting on the fact that she may well reference the potentially generational impact her side have the chance of making.

In fairness to the Lionesses, regardless of the result against Spain, when it comes to legacy, their place in the history books has probably already been written. London was awash with fan zones turning into impromptu dancehalls after their semi final victory over Australia. Such scenes would have been unimaginable even just a couple of years ago.

It's been a battle for many of the capital's most talented products to get to Australia. Lauren James had to play on the sidelines while her brother Reece was training from a young age. Chloe Kelly, scorer of the historic Euros-winning goal at Wembley last summer, had to fight on local cages for the chance at earning the respect to play. Leah Williamson, who tragically misses this tournament due to an ACL injury, has spoken of how she needed to be «a rebel» just to play football. Thanks to their struggles now the next generation of Lionesses superstars will hopefully have an easier pathway to the top.

It's not so much that they will have to though. If