Spain World Cup Information

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About the Spanish National Team

Spain are the current European Champions, having won the 2008 UEFA European Championship. In July 2008, Spain rose to the #1 spot in the FIFA World Ranking for the first time in their history, becoming only the sixth nation (and the first who had never won the World Cup) to top these rankings.

Spanish Kits

Spain's traditional kit is a red jersey with yellow trim with dark blue shorts and socks. Their current away kit is with a gold jersey with white shorts and socks, although the away kit is usually a full white kit with red trim. A third kit is sometimes used and is usually blue with red and yellow trim. Spain's kit is currently designed by Adidas.

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 with Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia, and Honduras. Under pressure to perform well, Spain struggled through their group. On their first day of competition, they could only manage a 1-1 draw with unfancied Honduras. They picked up momentum with an impressive 2-1 victory over Yugoslavia but were defeated 1-0 by Northern Ireland. Despite the defeat, Spain progressed to the second round where they were drawn into Group B with West Germany and England. Spain's campaign ended when they were defeated by West Germany 2-1 and drew 0-0 with England, and as disappointment swept the country, Santamaría was sacked.

Spain at the last World Cup

Under Luis Aragonés, Spain struggled throughout the 2006 World Cup qualifying stage. Spain were in group 7 with Serbia & Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Belgium, Lithuania, and San Marino. Despite mixed results including five wins and draws, Spain qualified for a playoff spot with Slovakia. Spain qualified for the final tournament after defeating Slovakia 6-2 on aggregate. Many didn't know what to expect of Spain heading into Germany; despite almost failing to qualify, the Spanish side had many talented players. Spain were drawn into Group H with Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia. Spain won their opening game over Ukraine in a comfortable 4-0 result, with two goals from David Villa and one each for Fernando Torres and Xabi Alonso. The first penalty of the tournament was awarded after Vladislav Vaschuk was sent off for pulling on Torres. Spain won their second game against Tunisia 3-1. A goal in the 8th minute through Jawhar Mnari put Tunisia ahead, but Spain scored through Raúl in the 71st min and Fernando Torres in the 76th min. Fernando Torres scored from the penalty spot in injury time to get his second goal in the game. Spain beat Saudi Arabia by 1-0 in Kaiserslautern on the 23 June. However Spain fell 3-1 in the second round by the more experienced France team, despite having led the game 1-0 after a penalty kick scored by David Villa. Spanish fans once again faced a premature exit and a performance below expectations. Spain and Brazil shared the 2006 FIFA Fair Play Award.

2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification

On March 11, 2008, Vicente Del Bosque announced that starting June 29, he would replace Luis Aragonés who left the job due that he did not feel the Spanish Football Federation wanted him to continue. It took until 15 July 2008 for Del Bosque to be officially comfirmed as the new coach. For the friendly against Denmark on 20 August 2008, the Spanish Football Federation asked Del Bosque to call up the same 23 players who were chosen to represent Spain at Euro 2008 as a tribute to their success, however, due to injuries suffered by Andrés Palop, Cesc Fàbregas and Carlos Marchena, they could not be selected, Del Bosque chose to bring only two goalkeepers and replaced Marchena with Fernando Amorebieta, Cesc Fàbregas with Diego Capel and also decided to replace Álvaro Arbeloa with Andoni Iraola and Sergio García with Bojan Krkić due to technical reasons. Spain won the match 3-0.