Spain national football team

The Spain national football team represents Spain in international association football and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Spain. The current head coach is Vicente del Bosque. The Spanish side is commonly referred to as La Roja (The Red [One]) or La Furia Roja (The Red Fury).^[7][8]

Spain are the current reigning World and European champions, having won the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship. Spain also won the 1964 European Nations' Cup and reached the UEFA Euro 1984 Final. In July 2008 Spain rose to the top of the FIFA World Rankings for the first time in the team's history, becoming the sixth nation to top this ranking, and the first nation to top the ranking without previously having won the World Cup. Between November 2006 and June 2009 Spain went undefeated for a record-tying 35 consecutive matches before their loss to the United States, a record shared with Brazil, including a record 15-game winning streak and thus earning third place in the FIFA Confederations Cup. Recently, the team has become known for using a style of play which involves roaming movement and positional interchange amongst midfielders, moving the ball in intricate patterns, and sharp, one- or two-touch passing; this style of play has been dubbed Tiki-taka (or Tiqui-taca). The success of Spain in recent times and their style of play, has helped the Spanish team become a dominant force in world football.

History

Early years and the effect of war

The Real Federación Española de Fútbol (English: Royal Spanish Football Federation) was founded in 1909 and became affiliated with FIFA in 1913. However, the national team did not play a full international match until 1920 when they beat Denmark 1–0 in the Olympic Games. Their first appearance at a major finals was the 1934 World Cup, for which they qualified after 9–0 and 2–1 wins over Portugal. They beat Brazil 3–1 in the first round, before losing 1–0 in a replay to hosts, and eventual champions Italy in Florence. On 3 May 1936 Spain beat Switzerland 2–0 in Bern, in what would prove to be their last game until after the Spanish Civil War in 1941. They would then play only against similarly politically-aligned countries, or Switzerland, Republic of Ireland and Portugal, neutral during World War II until 1949 when they drew 1–1 with Belgium and re-entered FIFA competition.

1950s

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 later declined an invitation to take part, with a 5–1 win 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 round.For the first, and so far only time in the history of the FIFA World Cup, the winner 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 leading scorer during the 1950 World Cup was striker Estanislao Basora, who ended the tournament with five goals.

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 quarterfinals. However, Spain forfeited its quarterfinal tie with the Soviet Union because of political disagreements between Spain's dictator Franco and the Soviets.

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 finals.

1982 World Cup in Spain

In 1976, Spain was selected as host of the 1982 FIFA 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 stages, Spain was drawn into Group 5, in which they could only manage a 1–1 draw with Honduras in the finals' opening match, after which they had a 2–1 victory over Yugoslavia, but were defeated 1–0 by Northern Ireland. These results were enough to secure progress to the second round where they were drawn into Group B, but defeat to West Germany and a goalless draw with England meant that Spain were knocked out, and Santamaría was sacked.

1984 to 1988

Former Real Madrid coach Miguel Muñoz, who had temporarily coached Spain in 1969, returned to coach the national team. Spain was in Euro 84 qualifying Group 7, against The Netherlands, 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 top 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 win the group. In the final tournament, Spain was drawn into group B with Romania, Portugal, and West Germany. After 1–1 draws against their first two opponents, Spain topped the group by virtue of a 1–0 victory against West Germany. The semifinals saw Spain and Denmark drawn at 1–1 after extra time, before Spain proceeded by virtue of winning the penalty shootout 5–4 on penalties. Hosts and tournament favourites France defeated Spain 2–0 in the final after a goalless first 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 by 2–1 and Algeria by 3–0. Round 2 paired Spain with Denmark, who they overcame 5–1 with Emilio Butragueño scoring four goals, but in the quarterfinals a 1–1 draw with Belgium ended with Belgium winning 5–4 on penalties.

Muñoz was retained as coach for Euro 88. As in the several previous 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 nevertheless knocked out in the group stage after losing 1–0 and 2–0 to Italy and West Germany respectively.

1990 to 1992

For the 1990 World Cup in Italy, Spain had a new coach, Luis Suárez Miramontes. Having qualified from a group consisting of Republic of Ireland, Hungary, Northern Ireland, and Malta, Spain entered the competition on a good run of form, 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), fell to a 2–1 defeat to Yugoslavia in the second round.

Newly appointed coach Vicente Miera failed to gain qualification for Spain for Euro 92, after finishing third in a group behind France and Czechoslovakia. Vicente Miera did however lead Spain to the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics^[6] in Barcelona.

Clemente's reign from 1992 to 1998

Javier Clemente was appointed as Spain's coach in 1992, and the qualification for the 1994 World Cup was achieved with eight wins and one loss in twelve matches. In the final tournament Spain were in Group C in which they drew with Korea Republic 2–2 and 1–1 with Germany, before qualifying for the second round with a 3–1 victory over Bolivia. Spain continued through the second round with a 3–0 victory over Switzerland, but their tournament ended with a 2–1 defeat to Italy in the quarter-finals.

Spain qualified for Euro 96 from a group consisting of Denmark, Belgium, Cyprus, Republic of Macedonia, and Armenia. In the final tournament Spain faced group matches against Bulgaria, France and Romania. With 1–1 draws against the first two opponents, and a 2–1 win over Romania, Spain confirmed their place in the quarter-finals, with a match with hosts England, which finished goalless and Spain eventually fell 4–2 in the shootout.

In his second World Cup as Spain's coach, Clemente led his team undefeated through their qualifying group in which Yugoslavia and Czech Republic were the other contenders. Spain qualified with fourteen other European sides in the first ever thirty-two team World Cup, but were eliminated in the first round with four points after losing to Nigeria, drawing with Paraguay, and winning just one game, against Bulgaria.

Euro 2000 and World Cup 2002

After a 3–2 opening defeat to Cyprus in Euro 2000 qualifying, Clemente was fired and José Antonio Camacho was appointed as coach. Spain won the rest of their games to qualify for the final tournament, where they were drawn into Group C. A 1–0 defeat to Norway was followed by victories over Slovenia (2–1) and Yugoslavia (4–3), with Spain thus setting up a quarterfinal against 1998 World Cup champions, France, which was won 2–1 by France.

The qualifying tournament for the 2002 World Cup went as expected for Spain as Spain 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 3–1), and South Africa (3–2). Spain beat Republic of Ireland on penalties in the second round, and faced co-hosts Korea Republic in the quarterfinals. Spain twice thought they had scored, but the efforts were disallowed and Korea was successful in the penalty shootout after a 0–0 draw.

Euro 2004

At Euro 2004 in Portugal, 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 draw they needed against Portugal to proceed to the knock out stages. Iñaki Sáez was sacked weeks later and replaced by Luis Aragonés.

The start of a golden era, 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008

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 also included Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Lithuania, and San Marino. In Group H of the German hosted finals, Spain won all their matches, and beat Ukraine 4–0, Tunisia 3–1 and Saudi Arabia 1–0. However Spain fell 3–1 in the second round to France, with only the consolation of a share, with Brazil, of the 2006 FIFA Fair Play Award.

After being eliminated from the competition, Luis Aragonés came to the decision that the team was not physical or tough enough 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 movement, working the ball through various channels, and maintaining possession. Raphael Honigstein describes it as "a significant upgrade of the Dutch "total football", a system that relied on players changing positions." The tiki-taka style of play originates with Johan Cruyff's tenure as manager of Barcelona from 1988 to 1996.^[9]

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 match, and held Spain to a finished 0–0 draw resulting in a penalty shoot-out which Spain won 4–2. Spain met Russia again in the semi-final, again beating them, this time by 3-0.^[10]

In the final, played in Vienna's Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Spain defeated Germany 1–0, with a goal scored by Fernando Torres in the 33rd minute.^[11] This was Spain's first major title since the 1964 European Championship. Spain were the top scoring team, with 12 goals, and David Villa finished as the top scorer with four goals; Xavi was awarded the player of the tournament, and nine Spanish players were picked for the UEFA Euro 2008 Team of the Tournament.^[12]

Confederations Cup debut and 2010 World Cup qualification

Luis Aragonés left the manager's role after the Euro 2008 success, and was replaced by Vicente del Bosque.^[13]

2008 saw David Villa score 16 goals in 15 games, breaking the Spanish record of 10 goals in one year held by Raúl since 1999.^[14] On 11 February 2009, David Villa broke another Spanish record as his 36th-minute goal against England saw him become the first Spanish player to score in six consecutive games.^[15] By the start of the tournament, Del Bosque's had ten consecutive wins, making him the first international manager to do so from his debut, breaking Joao Saldanha's record, held since 1969, of nine consecutive wins with Brazil.

Spain won all three of its matches at the group stage, the 5–0 win 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 qualification for the semifinals, but also obtained the world record for 15 consecutive wins and tied the record of 35 consecutive unbeaten games (with Brazil).

On 24 June 2009, Spain's undefeated record ended when the United States beat Spain 2–0 in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup semi-finals which sent Spain to the third place match. This was Spain's first defeat since 2006. Spain defeated hosts South Africa 3–2 after extra time in the 3rd-place playoff.^[16]

On 9 September 2009, Spain secured its place at the 2010 World Cup finals after beating Estonia 3–0 in Mérida.^[17] Spain went on to record a perfect World Cup qualifying record with 10 wins out of 10 in Group 5, finishing with a 5–2 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina on 14 October 2009.^[18] The Spaniards entered the 2010 World Cup and won the whole thing .

2010 FIFA World Cup Winners

See Also: 2010 FIFA World Cup, 2010 FIFA World Cup Group H and 2010 FIFA World Cup Final

The 2010 World Cup draw, which took place on 4 December 2009, placed Spain in Group H, alongside Switzerland, Honduras, and Chile. Spain lost its first group stage match against Switzerland, 0–1. In their second match they defeated Honduras by 2 goals from David Villa. Their next match 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 Paraguay 1-0, scoring off of a goal by David Villa who put the ball in the back of the net after struck the ball off the post, reaching the last four for the first time since 1950. They then advanced to the final for the first time ever by defeating the favoured Germany 1-0 via a headed goal from Carles Puyol.

In the final four minutes of extra time during the World Cup final against the Netherlands, Andrés Iniesta scored a single goal from a pass given by Cesc Fabregas, winning the World Cup for Spain for the first time in their history. In this physical match, Spain received 5 yellow cards, while "Oranje" received 9, as well as 1 red card, the highest total of cards for a World Cup final in history. Spain won the World Cup by only scoring 8 goals and conceding 2, which is the lowest by any World Cup winner in both cases. Also, they are the only team not to have conceded a goal in the last four games of the tournament. Spain are the only team that has won the World Cup title after losing its opening game. Spain are only the second team to win a World Cup outside their own continent, following Brazil's wins in Sweden and Korea, which also makes Spain the first European team to win the World Cup outside of Europe.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup squad won the FIFA fair play award while some of its players also won awards.^[19] Goalkeeper Iker Casillas won the golden glove for only conceding two goals during the tournament. David Villa won the bronze ball and silver boot, tied for top scorer of the tournament with a total of 5 goals and 1 assist.

Euro 2012

Spain were placed in Group I for UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying tournament, the finals of which are to be hosted jointly by Poland and Ukraine. A 6-0 victory over Liechtenstein on 6 September 2011 assured Spain a spot at the tournament. After their 3-1 victory over Scotland they completed their second consecutve qualifying campaign with a 100% winning record. As they won the previous tournament in 2008, they will be seeded in Pot 1 for the main draw. On December 2nd the draw was held, Spain were placed in Group C along with rivals Italy and contenders Croatia and Republic of Ireland.

Group C

2014 FIFA World Cup

The preliminary draw was held and Spain was drawn in Group I of the European FIFA World Cup qualifying along with France, Belarus, Georgia and Finland.

Colours

Spain's traditional kit is a red jersey with yellow trim, accompanied by dark blue shorts and socks while their traditional away kit is fully white with a red and yellow trim. The colour of the socks altered throughout the 1990s from black to the same colour as the blue shorts. Spain's kits have been produced by manufacturers including Adidas (from 1982 until 1984), Le Coq Sportif (from 1984 until 1992) and Adidas once again (since 1992).

Their current home kit designed by a team led by Daniel Newlan at Adidas, is a lighter red than usual along with light blue shorts and red socks, similar to the older 2006 kit.^[20] A third kit is sometimes used and is usually blue with red and yellow trim. Rather than displaying the logo of the Spanish football federation, Spain's jersey traditionally features the coat of arms of Spain over the left breast. After winning the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the World Cup winners badge was added to the right breast of the jersey and a golden star at the top of the Spanish coat of arms.

Competitive record

Head to head

All time results

Forthcoming fixtures (2012-2013) according to FIFA

      Win       Draw       Loss

• ^ Spain U-23 will be representing the national team at the 2012 Summer Olympics tournament.

Honours

This is a list of honours for the senior Spanish national team

• FIFA World Cup

• Winners (1): 2010
• Fourth place (1): 1950

• UEFA European Championship

• Winner (2): 1964, 2008
• Runner-up (1): 1984

• FIFA Confederations Cup

• Third place (1): 2009

• Olympic football tournament

• Gold Medal (1): 1992
• Silver Medal (2): 1920, 2000

Other Awards

• FIFA Fair Play Trophy Winners

• Winner (2): 2006, 2010

• FIFA Team of the Year

• Winner (4): 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011

• Prince of Asturias Award for Sports

• Winner (1): 2010

• Laureus World Team of the Year

• Winner (1): 2011

Records

Worldwide

Most consecutive wins

15 (2008–2009)

Most consecutive games undefeated

35 (2007–2009) (shared with  Brazil between 1993–1996)

Most consecutive wins achieved by an international coach from debut

13 – Vicente del Bosque

Most shootouts in one World Cup by one team

2 at the 2002 FIFA World Cup (shared with  Argentina at the 1990 FIFA World Cup)

World record amount of points in World Cup qualification

30 out of 30 points (2008–2009)

Nationwide

Most international goals

51 - David Villa

Most international caps

127 – Iker Casillas

Most goals scored in one season

13 – David Villa (2008–2009)

Most consecutive games ended with at least one goal

6 – David Villa

Top scorer in World Cup finals

8 – David Villa

Most goals scored in one World Cup

5 – Emilio Butragueño (1986) & David Villa (2010)

Most goals scored in consecutive matches at World Cup

4 – David Villa (2010)

35 Undefeated streak

• Spain (7 Feb 2007 - 24 Jun 2009) shares with Brazil (16 Dec 1993 - 21 Jan 1996) the unbeaten record of 35 games. Brazil's loss at the 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup was by the under-23 (Olympic) team, but is officially counted as a loss of the national team. Otherwise the Brazil national team wouldn't lose until 30 May 1997 (2:4 vs Norway), thus extending it to 45 games.
• Curiously both Brazil and Spain lost their undefeated streak to members of the CONCACAF region. Brazil losing it to Mexico, and Spain losing it to the United States.

Players

Current squad

Match Date: 12 and 15 November 2011
Opposition:  England and  Costa Rica
Caps and goals correct as of: 15 November 2011

Recent callups

The following players have been called up for the team in the last twelve months.

Previous squads

Top goalscorers

As of 15 November 2011, the ten highest scorers for Spain are:

• Bold denotes players still playing international football.

Most capped Spain players

As of 15 November 2011 the ten players with the most caps for Spain are:

• Bold denotes players still playing international football.

Home stadium

Spain does not have a national stadium as such, though major qualifying matches are usually played at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid. Other large grounds used include the Estadio Vicente Calderón, also in Madrid, and the Mestalla in Valencia. Spain are unbeaten in competitive matches played at the Calderón. Some international friendlies are played in these larger stadia, as well as the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán in Seville, which staged the 2009 friendly against England after the visitors refused to play in Madrid following racist abuse of their black and mixed-race players and their national anthem at the Bernabéu in a 2004 friendly.

Other friendly matches, as well as qualifying fixtures against less glamorous opponents are played in provincial stadia. Ground recently used include the Riazor in La Coruña, the Estadio Nueva Condomina in Murcia, the Estadio Carlos Belmonte in Albacete and the Estadio Romano in Mérida. Occasionally, matches are played off mainland Spain; their final UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match against Northern Ireland was played at the Estadio Gran Canaria in Las Palmas, on the Canary Islands.

In their final Euro 2012 qualifier against Scotland, Alicante staged their first Spain International for 20 years.

Managers

Songs for competitions

Some Spanish groups or singers have made songs to encourage the national football team for a competition, usually for World Cups:

See also

• Spain national under-23 football team
• Spain national under-21 football team
• Spain national under-20 football team
• Spain national under-19 football team
• Spain national under-18 football team
• Spain national under-17 football team
• Spain national under-16 football team
• Spain national youth football team
• Manolo el del bombo
• Tiki-taka

References

External links

• RFEF site
• RFEF on Facebook
• RFEF on Twitter
• Information about the Spain national football team
• RSSSF archive of results since 1920

Titles