Up to two million people have taken to the streets of Madrid to celebrate Spain’s second World Cup title, according to the Spanish Government’s delegation in the capital.
Fans braved temperatures of about 35C on July 20 to greet the world champions, who paraded aboard an open-top bus towards the Plaza de Cibeles.
The team had beaten Argentina 1-0 after extra time in New Jersey on July 19. It was only the second world title in the country’s history.
Substitute Ferran Torres struck the only goal late in extra time, turning in a knock-down from Nico Williams. He became just the second substitute to score the winner in a World Cup final.
Argentina’s goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez had kept his side level with a record 11 saves before Torres beat him. The match was played before more than 70,000 spectators at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
The final capped a tournament held for the first time across the United States, Canada and Mexico, which had opened on June 11 with an expanded field of 48 teams.
Spain had controlled the match almost throughout, forcing 12 attempts on goal while Argentina managed none. Only Martínez’s saves kept the score blank until Torres struck.
The sides had stayed level through 90 goalless minutes and much of extra time, the tie growing tenser until the substitute’s late intervention. Celebrations then erupted across Spain the moment the final whistle blew in New Jersey.
It was Spain’s first World Cup crown since 2010, when Andrés Iniesta scored a similar extra-time winner against the Netherlands.
The victory extended Spain’s unbeaten run to 38 matches, reaching back beyond its triumph at the 2024 European Championship.
The side conceded only one goal across the whole tournament, the meanest defence of any team to lift the trophy. Holder of both the European and world titles, it has set a standard few in the game can currently match.
Head coach De la Fuente has built the team around a young core, among them winger Nico Williams, who set up the winning goal. Its mix of youth and possession has proved hard to break down for two years.
Argentina, the holders, had reached the final by beating England in a semi-final later clouded by a Falklands banner row.
The defeat is likely to close the World Cup career of Lionel Messi, who left the pitch in tears clutching his runners-up medal.
Earlier, King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia and their daughters, Princess Leonor and the Infanta Sofía, received the squad at the Zarzuela Palace.
Led by Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president Rafael Louzán, head coach Luis de la Fuente and captain Rodrigo Hernández, known as Rodri, the players arrived in two coaches for the first of the day’s official engagements.
The squad had landed tired after the long flight from the United States, which pushed the day’s programme back by about an hour.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez received the players at the Moncloa Palace before the parade set off.
Rodri, named the tournament’s best player, said winning with one’s country was “the most beautiful thing there is”. He called the trophy the most special of his career.
He said his generation had grown up watching players such as Iker Casillas and Iniesta lift the World Cup, and that reaching the same height was the greatest thing in football.
From 4pm supporters had begun filling Cibeles, some carrying red and yellow umbrellas against a sun that prompted the Madrid regional government to extend a high heat-risk alert until July 22.
Many had staked out places hours in advance, singing and waving flags as they waited for the bus to arrive.
The open-top bus wound through the centre of the city, passing along Princesa and Serrano and by the Puerta de Alcalá.
Cibeles, the square where Spanish teams have long gathered to mark their triumphs, brought the route to a close.
Singers Aitana, Lola Índigo and Ana Mena were among the acts due to perform at the fountain into the night. The players were set to lift the trophy before the crowd as the climax of the day.
The delegation’s estimate shifted through the evening, from close to two million to a provisional 1.8 million by 9.30pm.
Either way, it was one of the largest gatherings the capital has seen, drawn out under a fierce sun to salute a team at the peak of the world game.
