Spain national football team
FIFA RANKING: 6
GOVERNING BODY:-
Real Federación Española de Fútbol (RFEF)
HOME STADIUMS:-
Madrid (Santiago Bernabéu and Metropolitano)
Seville (Pizjuán and Villamarín)
Valencia (Mestalla and Orriols)
Barcelona (Camp Nou and Montjuïc)
CAPTAIN:-
Sergio Ramos
COACH:-
Luis Enrique
MOST CAPPED PLAYER:-
Sergio Ramos
TOP SCORER:-
David Villa (59 goals)
STAR PLAYERS:-
Sergio Ramos, David de Gea, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Thiago Alcantara, Alvaro Morata, Ansu Fati
NICKNAME:-
La Furia Roja
RIVALS:-
Italy
Portugal
WORLD CUP:-
Appearances: 15
Best Result: Champions (2010)
EUROS:-
Appearances: 10
Best Result: Champions (1964, 2008, 2012)
The Spain national football team represents Spain in international men’s football since 1920. It is governed by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), which is the governing body for all of football in Spain.
Spain are just one of the 8 nations to have won the FIFA World Cup. The nation has consistently qualified for the World Cup since 1978. Spain has also 3 European Championship titles to its name, including back-to-back wins in 2008 and 2012.
The Spanish are the only national team to have won three consecutive major titles, becoming the first European team to win a FIFA World Cup outside of Europe in 2010 when they lifted the title in South Africa. They are also the only team to win back-to-back European Championships.
Between February 2007 and June 2009, Spain went undefeated for a record-equalling 35 consecutive matches, shared with Brazil. Their achievements have raised claims that consider the 2008–2012 Spanish squad the best ever international side in world football.
Spain has one of the biggest domestic football leagues in the world – La Liga. The league has the top 20 teams in Spain fighting it out for the title including the world-famous clubs – Real Madrid and Barcelona.
In recent times, Atletico Madrid have joined the party and are more than a threat to the two Spanish giants.
FOOTBALL IN SPAIN
Football is the most popular sport in Spain, followed by basketball and tennis.
The sport is a widespread passion among the people of Spain, and most people in the country have at least some sort of connection to the sport.
Football is the sport with the most registered players with the number being over a million and almost 100,000 women also playing the game in the nation.
It also has the highest number of registered clubs (a total of over 21,000) among all Spanish sports federations. It is also the second most popular recreational sport practiced by the population (around 18%).
A total of over 76% of the people have purchased tickets to attend a football match at some point in their lives. In addition to this, a total of over 67% of the people said that they have watched football matches on television.
Most of the Spanish people are supporters of Real Madrid (over 32%) or FC Barcelona (over 25%), and the other teams have fewer supporters nationwide with Atlético de Madrid having around 16.1%, Valencia CF close to 4%, Athletic Bilbao less than 4% and Sevilla FC around 3%.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation (Spanish: Real Federación Española de Fútbol) – the country’s national football governing body – organises two Cup competitions – the Copa del Rey, and the Supercopa de España.
The Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP), integrated by a total of 42 football clubs, forms part of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) but has autonomy in its organisation and functioning. It is responsible for the organisation of state football leagues, in coordination with RFEF.
The Spain national football team has won the FIFA World Cup once, and has also been successful in the UEFA European Championship and the Olympic tournament.
The trademark style of play developed by Spain’s football team (and at club level, by FC Barcelona) during its most successful time was “Tiki-taka” under Pep Guardiola. This football style is characterised by keeping possession and continuously passing the ball around for most of the game, and moving the ball quickly from one player to the next, with short and quick passes, keeping the ball away from your opponent, and then to deliver an incisive pass to score a goal.
Spain’s national futsal team is one of the strongest teams in the world, having won six championships at the UEFA Futsal Championship and two FIFA Futsal World Cups as well.
Major Competitions
The First Division of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional – commonly known as La Liga.
La Liga
It is one of the strongest football leagues in both Europe and the world. At the club level, the Spanish football clubs have won a total of almost 70 international tournaments. They are the most successful nation when it comes to winning European competitions.
Copa del Rey
The Campeonato de Espana–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, or the Copa del Rey and commonly referred to as La Copa, is the annual knockout cup competition in Spain. It is Spain’s oldest football competition, founded back in 1903.
The competition features all the teams from the La Liga, Segunda A, Segunda B, the winners of the Tercera Division and the winners of the regional divisions in the fifth tier of Spanish football.
The winner of the Copa del Rey secures a place in the UEFA Europa League.
Spanish Super Cup (Supercopa de Espana)
The Spanish Super Cup is a match that takes place between the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Rey. If the winner of both happens to be the same club then the runners up in the league would face-off against the champions for the trophy.
Real Madrid holds the record for the most UEFA Champions League titles with 13, Barcelona has a record 5 UEFA Super Cups that is only matched by Italy’s AC Milan, and Sevilla has a record 6 UEFA Europa League titles.
Spanish football league system
The football league system in Spain consists of several leagues bound together hierarchically by promotion and relegation.
The Spanish football federation allows reserve teams to compete in the main league system, as is the case in most of Europe. However, these reserve teams are not allowed to compete in the same tier as their senior team, and no reserve team has thus competed in the top flight, Primera División.
Tier 1 – Primera Liga
La Liga is the highest level in the Spanish football league system and is operated by the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (LFP).
It features the top 20 football clubs in the country and all are professional clubs. The bottom 3 clubs are relegated to the 2nd division.
Tier 2 – Segunda Division
Segunda División is the second-highest level in the Spanish football league system and is also operated by the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional.
22 teams feature in this division with the top 3 teams being promoted and the bottom 4 teams moving down to tier 3.
Tier 3 – Primera Division RFEF
The RFEF created a new professional division from 2021-22 between the old Segunda Division and Segunda Division B, which is the new third tier, known as Primera División RFEF.
This league has 2 groups with 20 teams each with the top 2 teams in each group getting promoted while the bottom 5 teams in each group get relegated to Segunda Division RFEF.
Tier 4 – Segunda Division RFEF
The former Segunda Division B, which was the third-highest level in the Spanish football league system and operated by the RFEF, is now the fourth tier, dropping the B from its name and becoming Segunda División RFEF. This is a semi-professional division.
This league features 5 groups with 18 teams in each group. The top 2 teams in each group are promoted to Primera Division RFEF while 18 teams that finish at the bottom are relegated to the non-professional leagues.
Tier 5 – Tercera Division RFEF
This is now the fifth tier of Spanish football that is operated by the RFEF and the 19 regional federations of Spain.
This league features 18 groups with 18 teams each.
Tier 6 onwards – Regional Divisions
Starting at tier 6, each of the 19 regional federations of RFEF run their regional league pyramid under their own jurisdiction.
Tier 6 – 1st Regional Division
Tier 7 – 2nd Regional Division
Tier 8 – 3rd Regional Division
Tier 9 – 4th Regional Division
Tier 10 – 5th Regional Division