History of the Spain national football team

aspect of history

The history of the Spain national football team dates rear to the team ‘s formation and first ever external match in 1920. The Spain national football team has experienced a phone number of successes, most notably their victory at the 2010 FIFA World Cup .

Beginnings and early success [edit ]

Hondarribia, 1913 [edit ]

Spain ‘s first international spokesperson matches was arranged by the influential sports administrator José Ángel Berraondo, under the auspices of the Real Unión Española de Clubs de Foot-ball. The first friendly match, which all took position at Estadio de Amute, Hondarribia, was played against France ( called-up by the Ligue de football association, a french confederation of football clubs chaired by Jules Rimet ) on May 25th, 1913. however, this is not considered a official friendly equal by FIFA.

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Team details

Spain

France


GK		Agustín Eizaguirre (Real Sociedad)
RB		Mariano Arrate (Real Sociedad)
LB		Saturnino Bello (Irún Sporting)
RH		Enrique Figueroa (Irún Sporting)
CH		Bonifacio Echeverría (Real Sociedad)
LH		José Pérez Pombo (Real Club Coruña)
OR		José Florentino Angoso (Irún Sporting)
IR		Cipriano Prada (Auténtico de Pontevedra)
CF		Juan Sandalio Arzuaga (Club Deportivo Bilbao)
IL		Manuel Elósegui (Real Sociedad)
OL		José Miguel Minondo (Real Sociedad)


GK		Chayriguès (Red Star)
RB		Massip (Red Star)
LB		Gamblin (Red Star)
RH		Lhermitte (Cercle Athlétique de París)
CH		Barreau (F.E.C. Levallois)
LH		Pellan (C.S. Athlétiques)
OR		Niggli (U.S. Suisse)
IR		Turcan (Red Star)
CF		Devic (Cercle Athlétique de París)
IL		Fenouillière (Red Star)
OL		Denis (Cercle Athlétique de Vitry)

antwerpen 1920 Olympic Games [edit ]

The first Spain national football team was constituted in 1920, with the chief objective of finding a team that would represent Spain at the Summer Olympics held in Belgium in that lapp year. [ 3 ] Spain made their a lot anticipated debut at the tournament on 28 August 1920 against the national team of Denmark ( runner-up in the last two former Olympic tournament ). The peer took place at the Stade Joseph Marien in Brussels. [ 4 ] The spanish won that match by a scoreline of 1–0 thanks to a finish from Patricio Arabolaza, who thus became Spain ‘s first international goalscorer. This match would besides make Spain, at that clock, the 28th nation to play a football match. In their next match stagecoach, Spain were set to play their future bet on against the hosts Belgium ; in that match, Spain could not come up with the victory and lost 1–3. Hosts Belgium ended up winning the tournament after the Czechoslovakians were disqualified for leaving the sales talk in the center of the final game, frankincense Spain and another three home teams were giving the probability to play a small consolation tournament where the achiever would win either the flatware or bronze medal. Their first base match in this new “ quarter-finals ” was played against Sweden in which the Spanish came from a goal behind to win 2–1 at the very end. José María Belauste and Domingo Acedo were the scores of that game. The follow match was played against Italy. Félix Sesúmaga scored the two fabulous goals that would give the Spanish a 2–0, eliminating the Italians and giving them the victory to send them to the semi-finals of the tournament ( Until UEFA Euro 2012, this had lone been the merely time Spain had beaten Italy in an official match ). The final four teams were Spain, the Netherlands, France and Czechoslovakia. But only the Netherlands gain to final examination match against Spain ascribable to France not showing up and the Czechs being disqualified previously. In the final match, Spain defeated the dutch 3–1 with two goals from Félix Sesúmaga and one from Pichichi. With this, Spain won the silver decoration at the Olympics and their first external silverware at any tournament. The medalist at that Olympic tournament were : Domingo Gómez-Acedo, Patricio Arabolaza, Mariano Arrate, Juan Artola, Joaquín Vázquez, José María Belauste, Sabino Bilbao, Ramón Eguiazábal, Moncho, Ricardo Zamora, Silverio Izaguirre, Pichichi, Luis Otero, Francisco Pagazaurtundúa, Josep Samitier, Agustín Sancho, Félix Sesúmaga and Pedro Vallana with the passenger car at that time Paco Bru. Although it was a very successful consequence for the home team, it would take many years by and by to achieve that success again. In 1929, Spain became the beginning team from Continental Europe to beat England, winning 4–3 in 1929 .

1950s [edit ]

The spanish Civil War and World War II prevented Spain from playing any competitive matches between the 1934 World Cup and the 1950 World Cup qualifiers, where they overcame iberian rivals Portugal, who former declined an invitation to take partially, with a 5–1 gain and 2–2 draw. At the finals in Brazil, they topped their group against England, Chile and the United States to progress to the final polish. For the first, and so far alone time in the history of the FIFA World Cup, the achiever was decided, not by a single championship match, but via a group format involving the four teams who had won their respective groups in the previous stage. The four teams in the final group were Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden and Spain. Spain failed to record a win ( W0 D1 L2 ) and finished in fourth place. Until 2010, this had been Spain ‘s highest finish in a FIFA World Cup finals, which had given them the name of the “ underachievers. ” Spain ‘s lead scorekeeper during the 1950 World Cup, who ended the tournament with five goals .

1960s [edit ]

Under French-Argentine coach Helenio Herrera and italian assistant coach Daniel Newlan, Spain came out of dormancy to qualify for the first european championship in 1960. Spain beat Poland 7–2 on aggregate to progress to the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals, Spain, who were under Francoist rule, refused to travel to the Soviet Union for political reasons. Proposals to play the connect in a one-legged format at a neutral venue were rejected by the Soviets, and Spain was disqualified. [ 5 ] The Spaniards, led by Alfredo Di Stéfano, qualified for the 1962 World Cup, beating Wales 3–2 over two legs to advance to the UEFA / CAF play-off where they would beat Morocco 4–2 over two legs to advance to the concluding. Spain won its first major international entitle after winning the 1964 european Championship held in Spain. Spain was able to defeat a highly favored Hungary side 2–1 to advance to the concluding against the Soviet Union, which was awarder a cinch win four years in the first place. Spain would go on to win the final examination meet in Madrid by the exact score of 2–1 after Marcelino broke the 1–1 draw in the 84th minute. The victory would stand as Spain ‘s lone major style for 44 years. Spain qualified for the 1966 World Cup in England, draw into a group which included West Germany and Argentina. They lost to both those teams 2–1 in Birmingham and Sheffield, respectively. This effectively ensured their elimination from the group stage, although they were able to gain some dignity by beating Switzerland 2–1 .

1968–1977 and time period of worsen [edit ]

Spain then reached a gloomy compass point in its history where they failed to qualify for the 1968, 1972 and 1976 european Championships in Italy, Belgium and Yugoslavia respectively, and they besides failed to qualify for the 1970 and 1974 World Cup tournaments in Mexico and West Germany respectively. This reflected the disruptive meter in Spain ‘s general history ; the fascist government led by Franco was nearing the end of its reign, which effectively happened in 1975 .

late 1970s–1980s [edit ]

Spain qualified for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. This proved to be a difficult tournament for the spanish team as they played under varying pitch conditions. Spain lost their beginning match 2–1 against Austria in the José Amalfitani Stadium of Buenos Aires, which had the best-maintained pitch of the tournament. They then drew with tournament favorites Brazil in Mar del Plata, which had probably the worst-maintained pitch of the tournament ; there were rumors the Argentine authorities measuredly sabotaged the Mar del Plata sales talk to lessen the chances of Brazil ‘s successes, as Brazil played all their matches there. The atrocious pitch was filled with holes, but Spain kept Brazil from scoring any goals. Spain went back to the excellent pitch of the Estadio José María Minella, where they beat Sweden 1–0. But Spain were eliminated after Austria ‘s two victories and one passing, and Brazil ‘s one gain and two draws meant that Spain had a bad commemorate than both. In 1980, for the first gear meter since 1964, Spain qualified for the European Championships, again held in Italy. however, they were eliminated in the group stage after two 2–1 losses against Belgium and England and a draw against hosts Italy .

Spain as the 1982 FIFA World Cup hosts [edit ]

In 1976, Spain was selected as host of the 1982 World Cup. This edition of the World Cup featured 24 teams for the first time. Expectations were high for Spain as the host nation under coach José Santamaría. In the group stage, where they played all their matches at the Luis Casanova Stadium in Valencia. They were drawn into Group 5, in which they could only manage a 1–1 draw with Honduras in their first match. They followed this with a 2–1 victory over Yugoslavia, but were then defeated 1–0 by Northern Ireland. These results were enough to secure advance to the moment round, where they were drawn into Group B, but defeats to West Germany and a scoreless draw with England – both quite humiliatingly at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid – meant that Spain were knocked out, and Santamaría was subsequently sacked. former Real Madrid bus Miguel Muñoz, who had temporarily coached Spain in 1969, returned to coach the national team. Spain was placed in Euro 1984 qualifying Group 7, aboard the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Iceland and Malta. Entering the last match, Spain needed to defeat Malta by at least 11 goals to surpass the Netherlands for the acme spot in the group, and after leading 3–1 at half time, Spain scored nine goals in the second half to win by 12–1 and therefore besides the group. In the concluding tournament, Spain was drawn into group B with Romania, Portugal, and West Germany. After 1–1 draws against their beginning two opponents, Spain topped the group by virtue of a 1–0 victory against West Germany. The semi-finals saw Spain and Denmark draw at 1–1 after supernumerary time, before Spain proceeded by virtue of winning the penalty gunfight 5–4 on penalties. Hosts and tournament favourites France defeated Spain 2–0 in the final after a scoreless inaugural one-half. Spain qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico having topped Group 7 with Scotland, Wales and Iceland. Spain began the group stage by losing to Brazil 1–0, but progressed after beating Northern Ireland 2–1 and Algeria 3–0. Round 2 mated Spain with Denmark, who they overcame 5–1 with Emilio Butragueño scoring four goals, but in the quarter-finals, a 1–1 tie with Belgium ended with Belgium winning 5–4 on penalties. Muñoz was retained as coach for Euro 1988. As in the respective former tournaments Spain qualified impressively in a group with Austria, Romania and Albania. Spain were drawn into group A and began their tournament with a 3–2 victory over Denmark, but were however knocked out in the group phase after losing 1–0 and 2–0 to Italy and West Germany respectively .

1990s [edit ]

For the 1990 World Cup in Italy, Spain had a new coach, Luis Suárez. Having qualified from a group consisting of Republic of Ireland, Hungary, Northern Ireland and Malta, Spain entered the competition on a adept run of shape, and after reaching the knock out stages through a 0–0 draw with Uruguay and wins over South Korea ( 3–1 ) and Belgium ( 2–1 ) in Udine and Verona and winning their group, they fell to a 2–1 kill to Yugoslavia in their round of golf of 16 match in Verona. newly appointed coach Vicente Miera failed to gain qualification for Spain for Euro 1992, after finishing third in a group behind France and Czechoslovakia. Vicente Miera did, however, leave Spain to the gold decoration at the 1992 Olympics [ 6 ] in Barcelona .
Javier Clemente was appointed as Spain ‘s coach in 1992, and the qualification for the 1994 World Cup in the United States was achieved with eight wins and one passing in twelve matches. In the final examination tournament Spain were in Group C in which they drew with Korea Republic 2–2 in Dallas and 1–1 with Germany in Chicago, before qualifying for the second round of golf with a 3–1 victory over Bolivia, again in Chicago. Spain continued through the irregular cycle with a 3–0 victory over Switzerland in Washington, but their tournament ended with a controversial 2–1 frustration to Italy in the quarter-finals in Foxborough near Boston, after star topology forth Luis Enrique was elbowed in the face by Mauro Tassotti in the italian penalty box which caused him to visibly bleed from his nozzle. Spain qualified for Euro 1996 in England from a group consisting of Denmark, Belgium, Cyprus, Macedonia and Armenia. In the final tournament, Spain faced group matches in Leeds against Bulgaria, France and Romania. With 1–1 draws against the foremost two opponents, and a 2–1 winnings over Romania, Spain confirmed their place in the quarter-finals with a match with hosts England at London ‘s Wembley Stadium, which finished scoreless and Spain finally fell 4–2 in the gunfight. In his second World Cup as Spain ‘s coach, Clemente led his team undefeated through their passing group in which Yugoslavia and Czech Republic were the early contenders. Spain qualified with fourteen other european sides in the first always thirty-two team World Cup. Drawn into Group D at the final tournament, Spain ‘s opponents consisted of Nigeria and Paraguay, angstrom well as former World Cup semi-finalists Bulgaria. Their campaign saw them first pitched against Nigeria in Nantes, with Spain taking the lead after 20 minutes from a curling Fernando Hierro dislodge kick, to bang-up delight of the spanish crowd. The Nigerians equalised four minutes late, however, to tie the game at 1–1 before half-time. In the second one-half, Spain once again took the lead after one moment played as Hierro played a long forward pass pass to Raúl, who volleyed in the testis from close-range to give the Spanish a 2–1 conduct. Nigeria ‘s attempts at equalising did not become successful until the 73rd moment, as Garba Lawal broke through the leave wing and tried a back pass, which was intercepted and ill deal with by captain Andoni Zubizarreta, who deflected the thwart into his own net and tied the game at 2–2 with short over 15 minutes left of play. Four minutes former, however, Spain failed to by rights clear a Nigeria thrown in, leaving Sunday Oliseh to strike a powerful shoot from the rebound fair outside the box past Zubizarreta to end the crippled 3–2 for Nigeria. Their next bet on was a scoreless attract against a José Luis Chilavert -inspired Paraguay in Saint-Etienne, giving Spain a mere point after two games, but their chances of qualification remained alive. Going into their last game against a weaker Bulgaria team in Lens, Spain needed to defeat their boyfriend Europeans and for Nigeria to either drum Paraguay or draw. Spain did their part by trampling the Bulgarians with a scoreline of 6–1 and completing their group phase crusade with four points, but it was not adequate as Paraguay beat group leaders Nigeria 3–1, placing them in second locate ahead of Spain and Bulgaria, who were eliminated by finishing third and fourthly in their group respectively .

2000s : startle of golden years and Euro 2008 exuberate [edit ]

After a 3–2 orifice frustration to Cyprus in Euro 2000 modify, Clemente was fired and José Antonio Camacho was appointed as passenger car. Spain won the lie of their games to qualify for the final examination tournament, where they were drawn into Group C. A 1–0 get the better of to Norway was followed by victories over Slovenia ( 2–1 ) and Yugoslavia ( 4–3 ), with Spain therefore setting up a quarter-final against 1998 World Cup champions France, which was won 2–1 by eventual Euro champions France, with Raúl missed a penalty in the final minutes. The modify tournament for the 2002 World Cup went as expected for Spain as the team topped a group consisting of Austria, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Liechtenstein. In the final tournament, Spain won its three matches in group B, against Slovenia, Paraguay ( both by a score of 3–1 ) and South Africa ( 3–2 ). Spain beat the Republic of Ireland on penalties in the second round, and faced co-hosts South Korea in the quarter-finals. In what is considered a highly controversial meet, Spain finally lost in a punishment gunfight after having two goals called back for alleged infractions during regular and supernumerary time. [ 7 ] At Euro 2004 modify, Spain merely finished second in their group, being stunned by the Greeks with a shock home loss and only managed to qualify for Euro 2004 by overcoming Norway. In the main tournament, Spain was drawn into group A with hosts Portugal, Russia and Greece, behind whom they had finished second in qualifying. Spain defeated Russia 1–0 and drew 1–1 with Greece, but failed to get the puff they needed against Portugal to proceed to the knock out stages. Iñaki Sáez was sacked weeks later and replaced by Luis Aragonés .
Spain qualified for the 2006 World Cup only after a play-off against Slovakia, as they had finished behind Serbia and Montenegro in Group 7, which besides included Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Lithuania and San Marino. In Group H of the german host finals, Spain won all their matches, and beat Ukraine 4–0, Tunisia 3–1 and Saudi Arabia 1–0. Spain, however, fell 3–1 in the second orotund to France, with only the consolation of a partake, with Brazil, of the 2006 FIFA Fair Play Award. After being eliminated from the rival, Luis Aragonés came to the decisiveness that the team was not physical or bully adequate to be able to out-muscle opponents, they therefore opted to start concentrating on monopolising the ball and thus started to employ the tiki-taka – a style characterised by short passing and campaign, working the testis through respective channels, and maintaining possession. Raphael Honigstein describes it as “ a meaning upgrade of the Dutch ‘total football ‘, a system that relied on players changing positions ”. [ 8 ]
spanish players celebrating their victory in Madrid. Spain qualified for Euro 2008 at the top of Qualifying Group F with 28 points out of a possible 36, and were seeded 12th for the finals. They won all their games in Group D : 4–1 against Russia, and 2–1 against both Sweden and defending champions Greece. Reigning World Cup holders Italy were the opponents in the quarter final equal, and held Spain to a finished 0–0 absorb resulting in a punishment shoot-out which Spain won 4–2. Spain met Russia again in the semi-final, again beating them, this fourth dimension 3–0. [ 9 ] In the final, played in Vienna ‘s Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Spain defeated Germany 1–0, with a finish scored by Fernando Torres in the 33rd minute. [ 10 ] This was Spain ‘s first major title since the 1964 european Championship. Spain were the top score team, with 12 goals, and David Villa finished as the top scorer with four goals ; Xavi was awarded the actor of the tournament, and nine spanish players were picked for the Euro 2008 Team of the Tournament. [ 11 ] [ 12 ]
Vienna austria lost to Spain by a sexual conquest of 5–1 in November 2009 in Ernst-Happel-Stadion Luis Aragonés left the director ‘s function after the Euro 2008 achiever, and was replaced by Vicente del Bosque. [ 13 ] 2008 meet David Villa score 16 goals in 15 games, breaking the spanish record of ten goals in one year held by Raúl since 1999. [ 14 ] On 11 February 2009, Villa broke another spanish record as his 36th-minute goal against England saw him become the beginning spanish musician to score in six consecutive games. [ 15 ] By the begin of the tournament, Del Bosque ‘s had ten consecutive wins, making him the first international coach to do so from his debut, breaking João Saldanha ‘s record – held since 1969 – of nine straight wins with Brazil. Spain won all three of its matches at the group stage, the 5–0 winnings over New Zealand including a Fernando Torres ] hat-trick that is the earliest and fastest hat-trick in the tournament ‘s history. With further wins over Iraq ( 1–0 ) and South Africa ( 2–0 ) they earned not only reservation for the semi-finals, but besides obtained the world record for 15 consecutive wins and tied the record of 35 straight unbeaten games ( with Brazil ). On 24 June 2009, Spain ‘s undefeated phonograph record ended when the United States beat Spain 2–0 in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup semi-finals which sent Spain to the third locate meet. This was Spain ‘s first kill since 2006. Spain defeated hosts South Africa 3–2 after extra clock in the third-place playoff. [ 16 ] On 9 September 2009, Spain secured its place at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa after beating Estonia 3–0 in Mérida. [ 17 ] Spain went on to record a perfect World Cup qualifying record with ten wins out of ten in Group 5, finishing with a 5–2 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina on 14 October 2009. [ 18 ] The spanish team entered the 2010 World Cup ranked number 2 on the FIFA rankings and as clear favorites to win the tournament .

The 2010s : stay success, refuse, and revival [edit ]

2010 FIFA World Cup winners [edit ]

World Cup champions parade, observe as they pass in front of the Air Force Headquarters in Madrid The 2010 World Cup withdraw, which took place on 4 December 2009, placed Spain in Group H, aboard Switzerland, Honduras and Chile. Spain lost its first group stage match against Switzerland, 0–1. In their second match they defeated Honduras by two goals from David Villa. Their future catch against Chile on 25 June was won 2–1. They advanced to the knock-out stage to defeat Portugal 1–0, reaching the quarter-finals in which they defeated underdog Paraguay 1–0, with another finish by David Villa, reaching the last four for the first time since 1950. They then advanced to the final examination for the beginning time ever by defeating Germany 1–0 via a steer goal from Carles Puyol .
In the final examination four minutes of extra time during the World Cup final in Johannesburg against the Netherlands, Andrés Iniesta scored a one goal from a excrete given by Cesc Fàbregas, winning the World Cup for Spain for the inaugural time in their history. In this physical match, Spain received five yellow cards while the Netherlands received nine, adenine well as one bolshevik card, the highest sum of cards for a World Cup final examination in history. Spain won the World Cup by only scoring eight goals and conceding two, which is the lowest by any World Cup achiever in both cases. besides, they are the only team not to have conceded a goal in the last four games of the tournament. Spain are the lone team that has won the World Cup deed after losing its open game. Spain are only the irregular team to win a World Cup outside their own celibate, following Brazil ‘s wins in Sweden and Korea-Japan, which besides makes Spain the first european team to win the World Cup outside of Europe ( followed four years subsequently by Germany ). It is besides the only european champion to not have at least one championship won in base land ( Italy, West Germany, England and France have all won at least one or their lone final examination on home dirt ). The 2010 World Cup police squad won the FIFA Fair Play Award while some of its players besides won awards. [ 19 ] Goalkeeper Iker Casillas won the aureate glove for only conceding two goals during the tournament. David Villa won the bronze ball and eloquent boot, tied for top scorer of the tournament with a full of five goals and one serve .

UEFA Euro 2012 [edit ]

Spain with the trophy, after winning euro 2012. Spain qualified top of Group I in reservation for UEFA Euro 2012 with a perfect, 100 % record. Spain defeated Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania and Liechtenstein to advance to the main tournament, where they became the first team to retain the European championship. Spain were drawn in Group C in the group stage, aboard Italy, Croatia and Republic of Ireland. Spain opened their group stage match against Italy on 10 June 2012. Italy took the lead in the moment half of the match, through utility and italian striker Antonio Di Natale in the 61st moment, who had come on to replace another striker, Mario Balotelli. [ 20 ] Three minutes late, Spain found an counterweight, in which midfielder David Silva assisted another midfielder, Cesc Fàbregas, who in turn slotted the testis past goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. [ 20 ] Spain ‘s following match was against Republic of Ireland. Fernando Torres opened the goalscoring, early in the fourthly minute, before scoring the goal from ten-spot yards. [ 21 ] In the 49th minute, David Silva extended the lead for Spain, nutmegging three defenders in the process, after Given blocked Iniesta ‘s nip. [ 21 ] With 20 minutes of the match stay, Torres scored his second goal, as he chipped the ball past Given. [ 21 ] The final goal was scored by Fábregas, in which he scored from a unmanageable angle. [ 21 ] Their third and final examination group degree equal against Croatia, proved to be more difficult than expected, as Croatia had several goalscoring chances, notably from croatian players Ivan Strinić and Ivan Perišić, which Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas had no problems dealing with. [ 22 ] The peer looked like it was heading for a draw, until the 88th minute, in which substitute Jesús Navas struck the acquire goal, after a chip from Cesc Fàbregas allowed Iniesta a elementary serve. [ 22 ]
In the quarter-finals, on 23 June 2012, Spain took on France. Spain opened the goalscoring, after defender Jordi Alba ‘s assist, which midfielder Xabi Alonso scored with a header past France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. [ 23 ] Spain completed their win, late in the irregular one-half, with Alonso stepping up to score the penalty recoil, after France defender Anthony Réveillère brought down Spain striker Pedro inside the penalty area. [ 23 ] Spain faced Portugal in the semi-finals. [ 24 ] The critical equal proved to be more difficult than expected, with Portugal having numerous goalscoring chances. [ 25 ] Spain, however, held on, which required the match to go into extra fourth dimension. [ 25 ] Spain showed signs of improvement, but however, failed to score over both halves. [ 25 ] A penalty shoot-out was then ensued. [ 25 ] Spain emerged triumphant, and were in a UEFA european Football Championship final for the fourthly clock time, since 1964, 1984 and 2008. [ 25 ]
In the concluding match, Spain won the tournament by a score of 4–0 over Italy. [ 26 ] Spain cursorily took command in the beginning half, with goals in the 14th minute from a header by David Silva, and in the 41st infinitesimal from Jordi Alba. [ 26 ] Spain increased their spark advance to 4–0 in the second half, with goals from Fernando Torres in the 84th infinitesimal, and from Juan Mata in the 88th hour, helping them to win their second straight european Championship, and their third gear straightaway major tournament title ( Euro 2008 and 2010 World Cup ). [ 26 ] Fernando Torres finished as the top goalscorer of the tournament with 3 goals. [ 26 ] Given the final victory Spain broke respective records :

Spain became the first team since the founding of the FIFA World Cup in 1930 to win three consecutive major titles (UEFA European Championship 2008, FIFA World Cup 2010, UEFA European Championship 2012).[ quotation needed]
Spain became the first team to reach the final as the reigning European champion since Germany did in 1976.
Spain became the joint most successful team in European Championship history, alongside Germany with three titles each.
Spain is the first national team to have won the FIFA World Cup and retain their continental championship.[ citation needed]

2013 FIFA Confederations Cup [edit ]

Before the begin of the tournament, La Roja played two international friendlies in the United States, winning both games by a score of 2–1 and 2–0 respectively. Spain started the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup campaign with a 2–1 win over Uruguay, a match that Spain dominated throughout, managing to make nine shots on target compared to Uruguay ‘s one. At the second group stage match, against Tahiti, Spain broke the record for the largest margin of victory in a elder FIFA pit, winning 10–0. then they beat nigeria 3–0 in the last group match. In their semi-final pit against Italy, the bet on went 0–0 all the room to penalties, which Spain then won 7–6. This put them through to their first Confederations Cup Final, which they lost 0–3 against Brazil. Fernando Torres was once again the top goalscorer of the tournament, with five goals .

2014 FIFA World Cup [edit ]

On 30 July 2011, at the 2014 FIFA World Cup preliminary absorb, Spain were placed in Group I. They commenced their modify campaign in deep 2012 in a group that featured France, Belarus, Georgia and Finland. [ 27 ] They started their World Cup campaign with a hard-fought away victory over Georgia in which Roberto Soldado scored in the 85th minute after the Georgians defended with 11 players in all 90 minutes of the game, hitting the post in the beginning of the irregular half. Spain were considered among the favorite teams to win the 2014 World Cup, [ 28 ] a belief promote supported by the group they were sorted in, which was composed by Chile, Australia and the Netherlands. Their first gear match in the World Cup was coincidentally the last one they played in 2010 : a replay of the 2010 final against Netherlands. Spain started taking the moderate of the equal thanks to a Xabi Alonso penalty kick, but the dutch quickly responded to the finish and proved to be a superior team this meter, equalising just before the half-time whistle thanks to a header from Dutch captain Robin vanguard Persie from outside the penalty corner. The Dutch completed the reversion of the scoreline after a second goal came from Arjen Robben, as the spanish lost command of the match and ultimately suffered a black get the better of of 5–1 at Arena Fonte Nova. [ 29 ] Needing to right the embark against Chile in order to maintain their hopes of defending the championship, the two teams faced in the Estádio do Maracanã. The latin american team proved to be tougher than they expected and ultimately won the match 2–0. [ 30 ] With both matches lost, Spain became the one-fourth team to be eliminated in the group stages of the World Cup, and besides entered the list of the defend World Cup champions who have been eliminated in the first group stages of the subsequent World Cup, along with Brazil in 1966, France in 2002 and Italy in 2010. Nonetheless, Spain defeated Australia 3–0 at the Arena district attorney Baixada to secure a third-place eat up in Group B with three points. [ 31 ]

UEFA Euro 2016 [edit ]

Spain was drawn in Group C with Ukraine, Slovakia, Belarus, Macedonia and Luxembourg for the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying. They ended up as winners of the group, with just one kill ( against Slovakia ). During the concluding tournament, Spain was drawn in Group D with Croatia, Turkey and the Czech Republic. On 13 June, they defeated the Czech Republic 1–0 at Toulouse, [ 32 ] and four days subsequently they defeated Turkey 3–0 in Nice ; [ 33 ] however, on 21 June Spain was by chance defeated by Croatia 2–1 in Bordeaux. [ 34 ] This mean that they finished as runner-up of Group D, behind the Croatians. For the orotund of 16, Spain was drawn against Italy, winners of Group E. The catch, played in the Stade de France on 27 June, saw the Azzurri winning over Spain 2–0, knocking the predominate champions out of the tournament. [ 35 ]

2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying and warm-up readiness friendlies [edit ]

Spain qualified undefeated for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia with a record of 9 wins, 1 pull back. On 27 March 2018 at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium in Madrid, Spain routed Argentina 6–1 in a warm-up formulation friendly match, in which Isco scored a hat-trick. It was Spain ‘s biggest win over another previous World Cup champion, and Argentina ‘s biggest personnel casualty since 2009, and besides tied the record for Argentina ‘s biggest personnel casualty overall, by a margin of five goals. [ 36 ] On 13 June 2018, the sidereal day before the startle of the World Cup, it was announced that drumhead bus Julen Lopetegui had been sacked after the news that he was taking over Real Madrid after the World Cup. [ 37 ] He was replaced by Fernando Hierro. [ 38 ] The beginning peer against Portugal ended in a 3–3 draw : [ 39 ] Diego Costa scored the foremost two goals for Spain, [ 40 ] and Nacho the final one, [ 41 ] while Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick for Portugal. [ 42 ] Spain won the moment match against Iran with a goal by Diego Costa. [ 43 ] Spain was finally defeated in the round of 16 by host country Russia through a penalty gunfight after the match ended 1-1 .

UEFA Euro 2020 [edit ]

Spain was drawn in Group F with Sweden, Norway, Romania, Faroe Islands and Malta for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying. They ended up as winners of the group, remaining undefeated during this phase. During the concluding tournament, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Spain was drawn in Group E with Sweden, Slovakia and Poland ; the team itself was already tipped alongside Belgium and France as the top favourites to win the european trophy. On 14 June, they shockingly drew 0–0 with Sweden, and on 19 June they drew 1–1 with Poland, as for the result, the team ‘s poor forms in both games were submit to criticisms. [ 44 ] [ 45 ] Although they won 5–0 against Slovakia on 23 June, that was not enough to top the group and therefore they ended up in moment put. [ 46 ] For the round of 16, Spain was drawn against Croatia, runner-up of Group D, and achieved a thrilling 5–3 succeed after extra-time on 28 June in Copenhagen. [ 47 ] They went on to the quarter-finals of the tournament against Switzerland, which had just knocked out of the tournament world–champions France on 2 July. Spain won 3–1 on penalties ( after a 1–1 draw ) over a highly disciplined Switzerland and advanced to the semi-finals of the tournament but had besides faced criticism for failing to win in regulation meter even though the Swiss had to play with ten men after 81st minute. [ 48 ] Spain then faced Italy on 6 July in London, losing 4–2 on penalties to them ( again after a 1–1 describe ), ranked third after the tournament. [ 49 ] Following the contest, Pedri was named into the team of the tournament by the UEFA. [ 50 ] Despite reaching the semi-finals, Spain ‘s operation throughout the tournament was heavily criticised by fans and the media, by and large due to the team struggling to score, its average performances against statistically weaker teams, and the over-reliance on FC Barcelona-inspired tactics ( namely using short-passes ). Furthermore, the ejection of certain players, namely from Real Madrid, was underlined .