Spain’s latest piece of silverware arrived on Sunday when the Under-20 Women’s World Cup was won on penalties against Korea. It was the country’s 17th world or European title from under-17 to senior level in the last five years, a run that spans both the men’s and women’s game.
The senior men’s team had already supplied the biggest headline of the summer by beating Argentina 1-0 after extra time in the World Cup final in New Jersey. The victory came two years after Spain won the European Championship in Berlin, repeating the pattern of 2010, when they followed Euro 2008 with World Cup success. Spain are also the first nation to hold the men’s and women’s World Cup titles at the same time, after the women beat England in the 2023 final in Sydney. The men added the Nations League in 2023 and Olympic gold in 2024, while the women won the Nations League in 2024 and 2025.
The titles have been spread across age groups. In women’s football, Spain’s haul from 2022 to 2026 includes the senior World Cup in 2023 and Nations League titles in 2024 and 2025, two Under-20 World Cups in 2022 and 2026, five Under-19 European Championships from 2022 to 2026, an Under-17 World Cup in 2022 and an Under-17 European title in 2024. The men’s five titles in the same period are the 2026 World Cup, the 2024 European Championship, the 2023 Nations League, Olympic gold with the Under-23 side in 2024 and the Under-19 European Championship in 2026. Spain have also won three of the past five men’s European Championships, in 2008, 2012 and 2024.
Spanish football expert Guillem Balague described the run as a dominance and like the perfect storm. He told BBC Sport that Spanish football does things a certain way, everyone believes in it, and the important thing is not to stop. He called it another Everest because the men won the World Cup in 2010 two years after winning the Euros and have now done it again.
Much of the men’s senior success has come under Luis de la Fuente, appointed in December 2022 after Spain were knocked out of the World Cup by Morocco in the last 16 in Qatar and Luis Enrique left his role. Few expected him to deliver the Nations League, European Championship and World Cup so quickly. Balague said they went with a coach who understood the style and the system, adding: ‘It was a very risky decision – I don’t think anyone thought he would be so successful.’ De la Fuente had not managed a big club. After retiring as a player in 1994, he spent 15 years in roles with a succession of clubs, including managing in the lower Spanish leagues, youth roles and assistant coach positions, before he took charge of Spain’s youth teams. Former Spain midfielder Juan Mata told BBC Sport that De la Fuente knew most of these players from the academies and that the team were growing together. Mata said: ‘This is not only a team for the present, but also a team for the future.’
Since taking the senior job after stints with the under-19s, under-21s and at Olympic level, De la Fuente has implemented a culture of respect for rivals and for the process, preaching patience and calmness. The 65-year-old said: ‘Most of you are younger than me and you need to respect experience.’ He added that after a game players asked what else there was to win after success in all categories, and that the conclusion was the next match in September because the team are relentless.
The women’s game has become a major part of the dominance. Spain won the 2023 World Cup in only their third appearance at the tournament, having made their debut in 2015, and then won back-to-back Nations Leagues in 2024 and 2025. Former player Maria Garrido, now a journalist, told BBC Sport in 2024 that changes in women’s football in Spain had been especially significant. She said that ten years earlier, when she played for FC Barcelona, there was no La Masia for girls, players covered their own transport costs, parents brought them to training and they did not earn money. In the previous five years, she said, the situation had improved dramatically, with a substantial push to promote women’s football, more youth categories, better facilities and conditions, and a dedicated football academy for girls. Garrido said the transformation had revolutionised the sport and elevated respect for women’s football in Spain.
The future looks strong. Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi, both 19, picked up their first World Cup winners’ medals. Yamal became the third-youngest player to appear in a World Cup final, after Brazil’s Pele in 1958 at 17 years and 249 days and Italy’s Giuseppe Bergomi in 1982 at 18 years and 201 days. Cubarsi started at 19 years and 178 days, making Spain the first side to feature two teenagers in a single World Cup final. Vicky Lopez is a three-time Champions League winner with Barcelona at the same age, while forward Salma Paralluelo has represented Spain more than 50 times before turning 23.
The success has spilled over into club football. Despite Pep Guardiola leaving Manchester City after 10 trophy-packed years, at least a quarter of the managers starting the 2026-27 Premier League season are Spanish. Spain’s Nations League victory against England on Saturday left them unbeaten in their last 39 matches in all competitions, the longest run by any European or South American team in history.
Former England goalkeeper Joe Hart told BBC Sport after the win over Argentina that Spain have a way of playing that no-one in the world has proven they can get anywhere near. He said no-one laid a glove on them at the World Cup and that they faced just 10 shots on target against them in the whole tournament. France’s 1998 World Cup winner Thierry Henry told Fox Sports that Spain have the potential to dominate for years to come, crediting the system they put in place and noting that Spain never used to win like that but now win at every level.