The Spain national football team (Spanish: Selección de fútbol de España) 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"), La Furia Roja ("The Red Fury") or La Furia Española (The Spanish Fury). Spain became a member of FIFA in 1904 even though the Spanish Football Federation was first established in 1909. Spain's national team debuted in 1920. Since then the Spanish national team have participated in a total of thirteen of nineteen FIFA World Cup and nine of fourteen European Championships.
Spain are the reigning World and European champions, having won the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012. The national team are currently ranked number 1 in both the FIFA World Ranking and the World Football Elo Ratings. The Spanish national football team's triumph in Euro 2008, in addition to the aforementioned cup victories, makes them the only national team in history to win three major tournaments consecutively. These achievements have led many commentators, experts and former players to consider the current Spanish side the best ever in world football.
Between November 2006 and June 2009 Spain went undefeated for a record-equaling 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 Confederations Cup. In the 2010 FIFA World Cup Spain became the first European team to lift the World Cup trophy outside of Europe and along with Argentina and Brazil are the only national teams to have won the FIFA World Cup outside of their continents.
Read more about Spain National Football Team: Style of Play, Colours, Honours, FIFA World Ranking History, Home Stadium, Spain's Historical Kits, Managers, Songs For Competitions
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“England and France, Spain and Portugal, Gold Coast and Slave Coast, all front on this private sea; but no bark from them has ventured out of sight of land, though it is without doubt the direct way to India.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)
“giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle,
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.””
—Clement Clarke Moore (1779–1863)