World champions Spain thump Belgium in Women’s Euro qualifiers

MADRID: A Salma Paralluelo hat-trick inspired Spain to a 7-0 win in Belgium on Friday in the opening fixture of its Euro 2025 qualifying campaign, while Marie-Antoinette Katoto gave France a narrow home win over Ireland.

Paralluelo goals bookended a Jenni Hermoso strike in a clinical start by the Spanish, before the Barcelona attacker scored her third two minutes after the break and Esther Gonzalez and Sheila Garcia then completed the rout. The victory comes at a difficult moment for the Spanish football federation (RFEF) after disgraced ex-president Luis Rubiales, who was forced to step down last September after forcibly kissing Hermoso following Spain’s triumph in the World Cup final in August, was briefly arrested on Wednesday in connection with an alleged graft scandal at the federation. The arrest came two weeks after investigators searched 11 locations, including the RFEF’s Madrid headquarters and Rubiales’ house in the southern city of Granada, as part of a probe into alleged corruption and other crimes. Agencies

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