No more need for dreaming – England are in a World Cup final for the first time since 1966 and the hopes of a nation rest in the boots of the Lionesses who have fought to be there.
Standing in the way of their path to ultimate glory are Spain’s La Furia Roja, who have also defied the odds to reach their first women’s final.
Australia and New Zealand jointly hosted this year’s tournament and the main spectacle will kick off at 11am on Sunday UK time (8pm local time at Stadium Australia in Sydney).
But if you haven’t managed to fly 10,000 miles to watch the game in person, there are plenty of places here to fly a flag… undoubtedly with the rapturous chants of “It’s coming home” reverberating all around you.
More than 13 million people are expected to watch the final either on TV or big screens, with several screening events across London.
Victoria Park in east London will host a free “super screening” which can accommodate more than 12,000 fans.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the atmosphere for the screening would be “electric” and hopes for thousands of fans to “roar on the team in their biggest game yet”.
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Wembley Stadium and Trafalgar Square will not be showing the game this year.
Meanwhile, Boxpark venues across the capital will also be rocking as their Wembley and Croydon locations are already sold out, though you can join the waitlist for Shoreditch.
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The commercial Canary Wharf will be basking in World Cup fever with a large screen at Canada Square Park, while Vinegar Yard, a few stops down the Jubilee Line in London Bridge, will also be showing the game.
Clapham Grand, Big Penny Social in Walthamstow, Spitalfields Market near Liverpool Street and Clubhouse 5 in Leicester Square will have the final on big screens too.
In Manchester, thousands are expected to flock to Piccadilly Gardens’ big screens, which will show the full build-up to the match and will have bars nearby to serve alcohol.
Birmingham Bierkeller is promising to be a football hotspot with a superscreen as its main attraction plus over 20 screens and two projectors.
Tyneside’s NX fan zone is boasting of a “phenomenal mega screening”, with crowd singalongs and a family atmosphere.
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Other hubs with multiple large screens have been set up around the country including in Sheffield, Nottingham and Bristol – while Jersey’s al fresco’s fan zone will welcome massive LED screens in its capital St Helier.
And churches are set to shift their Sunday services after the Church of England said it was “fine” for them to do so.
This means the likes of St Mary’s Church in Surrey will treat people to “bacon rolls and fizz” following its main morning eucharist, of bread and wine.
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Pubs everywhere can choose when they open on Sunday, but the time from which they can start selling alcohol varies depending on each pub’s individual licence.
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England fans celebrate every goal
The British Beer and Pub Association said most pubs can start serving alcohol from 11am – kick off time – but it is calling for the law to be relaxed so football fans can enjoy a drink from 10am.
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has also written to councils asking them to do “everything they can” so pubs can operate earlier on the day of the final.
Temporary changes to licensing laws in England and Wales have been made for special events in the past, such as the Euro 2020 final and the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee.
The government said an extra bank holiday is not currently in its plans, adding it will find the “right way to celebrate” if the Lionesses emerge victorious.
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Despite widespread public calls, there has never been an extra bank holiday after a sporting achievement.
A government spokesperson told Sky News: “Winning the World Cup would be a massive moment for the country and make no mistake we’ll find the right way to celebrate.
“As [England manager] Sarina Wiegman herself has said, the first thing to do is focus on the final and the whole country will be rooting for the Lionesses this weekend.”
One person has died and others have been injured during severe turbulence on a plane from London to Singapore – with passengers saying people were “launched into the ceiling”.
Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from Heathrow was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok.
“We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER. There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board,” a statement said.
“Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased.”
The aircraft took off at 10.38pm UK time on Monday but had to divert to the Thai capital, landing at 3.45pm local time on Tuesday (9.45am UK time).
It was cruising at 37,000ft (11,280m) before dropping 6,000ft (1,830m) in around three minutes, according to flight tracking data.
Passenger Dzafran Azmir, 28, told Reuters news agency: “Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling.”
He added: “Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it, they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it.”
Social media video showed ambulances lined up at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport.
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Sky’s Asia correspondent Cordelia Lynch, at the airport, said it’s believed as many as 30 people were injured – with local media reporting two people may have died.
“There’s some suggestion the flight hit an air pocket before it had to make this emergency landing,” she said.
“There are some images circulating on social media that show parts of the plane inside and a lot of scattered debris.”
Singapore Airlines said it was working with Thai authorities “to provide the necessary medical assistance” and sending a team to Bangkok to provide extra help.
“Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft”, it added.
Singapore is considered a standard-setter for the aviation industry and consistently tops airline awards.
Turbulence-related injuries are the most common type on board passenger planes, according to a 2021 study by the US National Transportation Safety Board.
It found it was responsible for more than a third of accidents between 2009 and 2018, but no aircraft damage.
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There are mechanisms to protect the regime in events like this and the Revolutionary Guard, which was founded in 1979 precisely for that purpose, will be a major player in what comes next.
In the immediate term, vice-president Mohammed Mokhber will assume control and elections will be held within 50 days.
Mokhber isn’t as close to the supreme leader as Raisi was, and won’t enjoy his standing, but he has run much of Khamenei’s finances for years and is credited with helping Iran evade some of the many sanctions levied on it.
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Drone footage of helicopter crash site
Raisi’s successor will most likely be the chosen candidate of the supreme leader and certainly another ultra-conservative hardliner – a shift back to the moderates is highly unlikely.
Likewise, we shouldn’t expect any significant change in Iran’s foreign activities or involvement with the war in Gaza. It will be business as usual, as much as possible.
However, after years of anti-government demonstrations following the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, this might be a moment for the protest movement to rise up and take to the streets again.
Iranian protesters have expressed “joy” over the death of President Ebrahim Raisi who was dubbed the “Butcher of Tehran”.
Speaking to Sky News’ The World With Yalda Hakim, three Iranians spoke on the condition of anonymity over fears of being tracked down by the country’s regime.
A protest leader – who is currently in hiding – suggested Sunday’s crash, that also killed Iran’s foreign minister, was “pre-planned”.
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Rescuers reach helicopter crash site
“We may not be across everything, but it’s been a known fact for a long time that Raisi was a serious contender to replace the Supreme Leader Khamenei, and perhaps some didn’t want that to happen.
“But all in all, this was very good news.
“All I can say is that the only thing that has made me truly happy over the past five years has been the news of Raisi’s death.”
Mr Raisi’s time in charge included major protests over Mahsa Amini – the woman who died after she was arrested for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.
The US said Mr Raisi had “blood on his hands” as the former hardline cleric was “a brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades”.
From the voices speaking out on The World with Yalda Hakim from inside Iran there was a sense of celebration on the eve of the funeral of their dead president but also a sense of realism.
One dead president the fall of a regime does not make. That is the bitter truth for those brave Iranians speaking out and the millions of Iranians they represent. They detest a man who presided over a brutal crackdown on protests that saw hundreds killed on the streets, and thousands incarcerated, tortured, raped or killed after their arbitrary arrest.
But there are reasons for Iranians to find some hope in the news of the president’s death.
Analysts have compared the Iranian theocratic Islamic regime to the Soviet Union in its dying days.
It is ideologically bankrupt. Its people do not believe in what it stands for anymore. It is morally bankrupt too, after the brutal repression that crushed the Women, Life and Freedom protests. But it remains powerful, with many people on its payroll and it is hard to predict how or when it falls.
Iran’s people want one thing though, and its government the opposite, and that ultimately is impossible to sustain.
Raisi had a unique skill set. He was both a zealous idealogue and an ex-judge. A man who understood how both Iran’s judiciary and presidency works. He combined a passionate belief in the Iranian revolution with an expertise in how its regime operated.
It has been said many times in the last 24 hours that Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, will find another hardliner to replace him. There are plenty more where he came from.
But no one with quite his skills and expertise. That may not be important immediately but at the moment of greatest danger in the not so distant future when Khamenei dies, it could make all the difference.
With no anointed successor, the supreme leader’s passing could usher in a period of instability and weakness for the regime. Raisi was seen as a potential successor but also a powerful stabilising force as president in that perilous hiatus, someone who could hold the ring while the new order is established and power struggles fought out.
Raisi’s death may well not mean immediate change for Iran but it could ultimately hasten its end.
A housewife, who was beaten up for taking parting in the “Woman, Life, Protest” movements, said: “The public hatred towards this regime is not a secret to anyone.
“Raisi’s death proved that the pain that this inflicted on our people will one day hit them back.
“My personal reaction to the death of Raisi… I was very happy.
“I’m not upset at all. Even though I never wish death on anyone, but this man, not only did he not do anything for our nation, but he ordered the death of countless young innocent people.”
Following news of Mr Raisi’s death, US State department spokesperson Matt Miller said the Iranian president “was involved in numerous horrific human rights abuses, including playing a key role in the extra judicial killing of thousands of political prisoners in 1988”.
“Some of the worst human rights abuses occurred during his tenure as president, especially the human rights abuses against the women and girls of Iran,” he added.
The US approach to Iran “will not change” because of Mr Raisi’s death, Mr Miller said.