Hondarribia, 1913

Spain's first international representative matches was arranged by the influential sports administrator José Ángel Berraondo, under the auspices of the Real Unión Española de Clubs de Foot-ball. The first friendly match, which all took place at Estadio de Amute, Hondarribia, was played against France (called-up by the Ligue de football association, a French federation of football clubs chaired by Jules Rimet) on 25 May 1913.^[3][4] However, this is not considered an official friendly match by FIFA.

Antwerp 1920 Olympic Games

The first Spain national football team was constituted in 1920, with the main objective of finding a team that would represent Spain at the Summer Olympics held in Belgium in that same year.^[5]

Spain made their much anticipated debut at the tournament on 28 August 1920 against the national team of Denmark (runners-up in the last two previous Olympic tournament). The match took place at the Stade Joseph Marien in Brussels.^[6] The Spanish won that match by a scoreline of 1–0 thanks to a goal from Patricio Arabolaza, who thus became Spain's first international goalscorer. This match would also make Spain, at that time, the 28th nation to play a football match. In their next match stage, Spain were set to play their next game against the hosts Belgium; in that match, Spain could not come up with the victory and lost 1–3.

Hosts Belgium ended up winning the tournament after the Czechoslovakians were disqualified for leaving the pitch in the middle of the final game, thus Spain and another three national teams were giving the chance to play a small consolation tournament where the winner would win either the silver or bronze medal. Their first match in this new "quarter-finals" was played against Sweden in which the Spanish came from a goal behind to win 2–1 at the very end. José María Belauste and Domingo Acedo were the scores of that game. The following match was played against Italy. Félix Sesúmaga scored the two fabulous goals that would give the Spanish a 2–0, eliminating the Italians and giving them the victory to send them to the semi-finals of the tournament (Until UEFA Euro 2012, this had only been the only time Spain had beaten Italy in an official match). The final four teams were Spain, the Netherlands, France and Czechoslovakia. But only the Netherlands advance to final match against Spain due to France not showing up and the Czechs being disqualified previously. In the final match, Spain defeated the Dutch 3–1 with two goals from Félix Sesúmaga and one from Pichichi. With this, Spain won the silver medal at the Olympics and their first international silverware at any tournament.

The medalist at that Olympic tournament were: Domingo Gómez-Acedo, Patricio Arabolaza, Mariano Arrate, Juan Artola, Joaquín Vázquez, José María Belauste, Sabino Bilbao, Ramón Eguiazábal, Moncho, Ricardo Zamora, Silverio Izaguirre, Pichichi, Luis Otero, Francisco Pagazaurtundúa, Josep Samitier, Agustín Sancho, Félix Sesúmaga and Pedro Vallana with the coach at that time Paco Bru.

Although it was a very successful event for the national team, it would take many years later to achieve that success again. In 1929, Spain became the first team from Continental Europe to beat England, winning 4–3 in 1929.

Spain as the 1982 FIFA World Cup hosts

In 1976, Spain was selected as host of the 1982 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 stage, where they played all their matches at the Luis Casanova Stadium in Valencia. They were drawn into Group 5, in which they could only manage a 1–1 draw with Honduras in their first match. They followed this with a 2–1 victory over Yugoslavia, but were then defeated 1–0 by Northern Ireland. These results were enough to secure progress to the second round, where they were drawn into Group B, but defeats to West Germany and a goalless draw with England – both rather humiliatingly at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid – meant that Spain were knocked out, and Santamaría was subsequently sacked.

Former Real Madrid coach Miguel Muñoz, who had temporarily coached Spain in 1969, returned to coach the national team. Spain was placed in Euro 1984 qualifying Group 7, alongside the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Iceland and Malta. Entering the last match, Spain needed to defeat Malta by at least 11 goals to surpass the Netherlands for the top spot in the group, and after leading 3–1 at half time, Spain scored nine goals in the second half to win by 12–1 and thus also the group. In the final tournament, Spain was drawn into group B with Romania, Portugal, and West Germany. After 1–1 draws against their first two opponents, Spain topped the group by virtue of a 1–0 victory against West Germany. The semi-finals saw Spain and Denmark drawn at 1–1 after extra time, before Spain proceeded by virtue of winning the penalty shootout 5–4 on penalties. Hosts and tournament favourites France defeated Spain 2–0 in the final after a goalless first half.

Spain qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico having topped Group 7 with Scotland, Wales and Iceland. Spain began the group stage by losing to Brazil 1–0, but progressed after beating Northern Ireland 2–1 and Algeria 3–0. Round 2 paired Spain with Denmark, who they overcame 5–1 with Emilio Butragueño scoring four goals, but in the quarter-finals, a 1–1 draw with Belgium ended with Belgium winning 5–4 on penalties.

Muñoz was retained as coach for Euro 1988. As in the several previous tournaments Spain qualified impressively in a group with Austria, Romania and Albania. Spain were drawn into group A and began their tournament with a 3–2 victory over Denmark, but were nevertheless knocked out in the group stage after losing 1–0 and 2–0 to Italy and West Germany respectively.

2010 FIFA World Cup winners

The 2010 World Cup draw, which took place on 4 December 2009, placed Spain in Group H, alongside Switzerland, Honduras and Chile. Spain lost its first group stage match against Switzerland, 0–1. In their second match they defeated Honduras by two goals from David Villa. Their next match against Chile on 25 June was won 2–1. They advanced to the knock-out stage to defeat Portugal 1–0, reaching the quarter-finals in which they defeated underdogs Paraguay 1–0, with another goal by David Villa, reaching the last four for the first time since 1950. They then advanced to the final for the first time ever by defeating Germany 1–0 via a headed goal from Carles Puyol.

In the final four minutes of extra time during the World Cup final in Johannesburg against the Netherlands, Andrés Iniesta scored a single goal from a pass given by Cesc Fàbregas, winning the World Cup for Spain for the first time in their history. In this physical match, Spain received five yellow cards while the Netherlands received nine, as well as one red card, the highest total of cards for a World Cup final in history. Spain won the World Cup by only scoring eight goals and conceding two, which is the lowest by any World Cup winner in both cases. Also, they are the only team not to have conceded a goal in the last four games of the tournament. Spain are one of two teams that have won the World Cup title after losing its opening game. Spain are only the second team to win a World Cup outside their own continent, following Brazil's wins in Sweden and Korea-Japan, which also makes Spain the first European team to win the World Cup outside of Europe (followed four years later by Germany). It is also the only European champion to not have at least one championship won in home soil (Italy, West Germany, England and France have all won at least one or their sole final on home soil).

The 2010 World Cup squad won the FIFA Fair Play Award while some of its players also won awards.^[21] Goalkeeper Iker Casillas won the golden glove for only conceding two goals during the tournament. David Villa won the bronze ball and silver boot, tied for top scorer of the tournament with a total of five goals and one assist.

UEFA Euro 2012 champions

Spain qualified top of Group I in qualification for UEFA Euro 2012 with a perfect, 100% record. Spain defeated Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania and Liechtenstein to advance to the main tournament, where they became the first team to retain the European championship.

Spain were drawn in Group C in the group stage, alongside Italy, Croatia and Republic of Ireland. Spain opened their group stage match against Italy on 10 June 2012. Italy took the lead in the second half of the match, through substitute and Italian striker Antonio Di Natale in the 61st minute, who had come on to replace another striker, Mario Balotelli.^[22] Three minutes later, Spain found an equalizer, in which midfielder David Silva assisted another midfielder, Cesc Fàbregas, who in turn slotted the ball past goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.^[22]

Spain's next match was against Republic of Ireland. Fernando Torres opened the goalscoring, early in the fourth minute, before scoring the goal from ten yards.^[23] In the 49th minute, David Silva extended the lead for Spain, nutmegging three defenders in the process, after Given blocked Iniesta's shot.^[23] With 20 minutes of the match remaining, Torres scored his second goal, as he chipped the ball past Given.^[23] The final goal was scored by Fábregas, in which he scored from a difficult angle.^[23]

Their third and final group stage match against Croatia, proved to be more difficult than expected, as Croatia had several goalscoring chances, notably from Croatian players Ivan Strinić and Ivan Perišić, which Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas had no problems dealing with.^[24] The match looked like it was heading for a draw, until the 88th minute, in which substitute Jesús Navas struck the winning goal, after a chip from Cesc Fàbregas allowed Iniesta a simple assist.^[24]

In the quarter-finals, on 23 June 2012, Spain took on France. Spain opened the goalscoring, after defender Jordi Alba's assist, which midfielder Xabi Alonso scored with a header past France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.^[25] Spain completed their win, late in the second half, with Alonso stepping up to score the penalty kick, after France defender Anthony Réveillère brought down Spain striker Pedro inside the penalty area.^[25]

Spain faced Portugal in the semi-finals.^[26] The decisive match proved to be more difficult than expected, with Portugal having numerous goalscoring chances.^[27] Spain, however, held on, which required the match to go into extra time.^[27] Spain showed signs of improvement, but nevertheless, failed to score over both halves.^[27] A penalty shoot-out was then ensued.^[27] Spain emerged victorious, and were in a UEFA European Football Championship final for the fourth time, since 1964, 1984 and 2008.^[27]

In the final match, Spain won the tournament by a score of 4–0 over Italy.^[28] Spain quickly took control in the first half, with goals in the 14th minute from a header by David Silva, and in the 41st minute from Jordi Alba.^[28] Spain increased their lead to 4–0 in the second half, with goals from Fernando Torres in the 84th minute, and from Juan Mata in the 88th minute, helping them to win their second straight European Championship, and their third straight major tournament title (Euro 2008 and 2010 World Cup).^[28] Fernando Torres finished as the top goalscorer of the tournament with 3 goals.^[28]

Given the final victory Spain broke several records:

• Spain became the first team since the founding of the FIFA World Cup in 1930 to win three consecutive major titles (UEFA European Championship 2008, FIFA World Cup 2010, UEFA European Championship 2012).^{[citation needed]}
• Spain became the first team to reach the final as the reigning European champion since Germany did in 1976.
• Spain became the joint most successful team in European Championship history, alongside Germany with three titles each.
• Spain is the first national team to have won the FIFA World Cup and retain their continental championship.^{[citation needed]}

2013 FIFA Confederations Cup

Before the start of the tournament, La Roja played two international friendlies in the United States, winning both games by a score of 2–1 and 2–0 respectively. Spain started the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup campaign with a 2–1 win over Uruguay, a match that Spain dominated throughout, managing to make nine shots on target compared to Uruguay's one. At the second group stage match, against Tahiti, Spain broke the record for the largest margin of victory in a senior FIFA match, winning 10–0. Then they beat Nigeria 3–0 in the last group match. In their semi-final match against Italy, the game went 0–0 all the way to penalties, which Spain then won 7–6. This put them through to their first Confederations Cup Final, which they lost 0–3 against Brazil. Fernando Torres was once again the top goalscorer of the tournament, with five goals.

2014 FIFA World Cup

On 30 July 2011, at the 2014 FIFA World Cup preliminary draw, Spain were placed in Group I. They commenced their qualifying campaign in late 2012 in a group that featured France, Belarus, Georgia and Finland.^[29] They started their World Cup campaign with a hard-fought away victory over Georgia in which Roberto Soldado scored in the 85th minute after the Georgians defended with 11 players in all 90 minutes of the game, hitting the post in the beginning of the second half.

Spain were considered among the favourite teams to win the 2014 World Cup,^[30] a belief further supported by the group they were sorted in, which was composed by Chile, Australia and the Netherlands. Their first match in the World Cup was coincidentally the last one they played in 2010: a rematch of the 2010 final against Netherlands. Spain started taking the lead of the match thanks to a Xabi Alonso penalty kick, but the Dutch quickly responded to the goal and proved to be a superior team this time, equalising just before the half-time whistle thanks to a header from Dutch captain Robin van Persie from outside the penalty box. The Dutch completed the turnaround of the scoreline after a second goal came from Arjen Robben, as the Spanish lost control of the match and ultimately suffered a disastrous defeat of 5–1 at Arena Fonte Nova.^[31]

Needing to right the ship against Chile in order to maintain their hopes of defending the title, the two teams faced in the Estádio do Maracanã. The Latin American team proved to be tougher than they expected and ultimately won the match 2–0.^[32] With both matches lost, Spain became the fourth team to be eliminated in the group stages of the World Cup, and also entered the list of the defending World Cup champions who have been eliminated in the first group stages of the subsequent World Cup, along with Brazil in 1966, France in 2002 and Italy in 2010. Nonetheless, Spain defeated Australia 3–0 at the Arena da Baixada to secure a third-place finish in Group B with three points.^[33]

UEFA Euro 2016

Spain was drawn in Group C with Ukraine, Slovakia, Belarus, Macedonia and Luxembourg for the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying. They ended up as winners of the group, with just one defeat (against Slovakia).

During the final tournament, Spain was drawn in Group D with Croatia, Turkey and the Czech Republic. On 13 June, they defeated the Czech Republic 1–0 at Toulouse,^[34] and four days later they defeated Turkey 3–0 in Nice;^[35] however, on 21 June Spain was unexpectedly defeated by Croatia 2–1 in Bordeaux.^[36] This meant that they finished as runners-up of Group D, behind the Croatians.

For the round of 16, Spain was drawn against Italy, winners of Group E. The match, played in the Stade de France on 27 June, saw the Azzurri winning over Spain 2–0, knocking the reigning champions out of the tournament.^[37]

2018 FIFA World Cup and warm-up preparation friendlies

Spain qualified undefeated for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia with a record of 9 wins, 1 draw. On 27 March 2018 at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium in Madrid, Spain routed Argentina 6–1 in a warm-up preparation friendly match, in which Isco scored a hat-trick. It was Spain's biggest win over another previous World Cup champion, and Argentina's biggest loss since 2009, and also tied the record for Argentina's biggest loss overall, by a margin of five goals.^[38] On 13 June 2018, the day before the start of the World Cup, it was announced that head coach Julen Lopetegui had been sacked after the news that he was taking over Real Madrid after the World Cup.^[39] He was replaced by Fernando Hierro.^[40]

The first match against Portugal ended in a 3–3 draw:^[41] Diego Costa scored the first two goals for Spain,^[42] and Nacho the last one,^[43] while Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick for Portugal.^[44] Spain won the second match against Iran with a goal by Diego Costa.^[45] They were eventually defeated in the round of 16 by host country Russia through a penalty shootout after the match ended 1–1.^[46]

UEFA Euro 2020 and 2021 UEFA Nations League Finals

Spain was drawn in Group F with Sweden, Norway, Romania, Faroe Islands and Malta for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying. They ended up as winners of the group, remaining undefeated during this stage.

During the final tournament, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Spain was drawn in Group E with Sweden, Slovakia and Poland; the team itself was already tipped alongside Belgium and France as the top favorites to win the European trophy. On 14 June, they shockingly drew 0–0 with Sweden, and on 19 June they drew 1–1 with Poland, as for the result, the team's poor forms in both games were subject to criticisms.^[47][48] Although they won 5–0 against Slovakia on 23 June, that was not enough to top the group and therefore they ended up in second place.^[49]

For the round of 16, Spain was drawn against Croatia, runners-up of Group D, and achieved a thrilling 5–3 win after extra-time on 28 June in Copenhagen.^[50] In the quarter-finals, they faced Switzerland, which had just knocked world–champions France out of the tournament on 2 July. Spain won 3–1 on penalties (after a 1–1 draw) over a highly disciplined Swiss team and advanced to the semi-finals of the tournament, having also faced criticism for failing to win in regulation time even though Switzerland had to play with ten men after the 81st minute.^[51] Spain then faced Italy on 6 July in London, losing 4–2 on penalties to them (again after a 1–1 draw). The team finished the tournament with two wins and four draws (including two penalty shootouts), ranking third overall.^[52][53] Among the individual accolades of Spanish players, Pedri was named into the Team of the Tournament by the UEFA.^[54] Despite reaching the semi-finals, Spain's performance throughout the competition was heavily criticized by fans and the media, mostly due to the team struggling to score, its mediocre performances against statistically weaker teams, and the over-reliance on FC Barcelona-inspired tactics (namely using short-passes). Furthermore, the exclusion of certain players, namely from Real Madrid, was underlined.

Despite the criticisms, Spain made an undeniable breakthrough, reaching the last four of a major tournament for the first time since 2012. later That same year they managed to reach the 2021 UEFA Nations League Final In the final, Spain lost against France 1–2. As such, Spain came agonizingly close to winning both continental tournaments in 2021, but ultimately fell short.^[55]

2022 World Cup

Spain started the 2022 World Cup with a 7–0 win over Costa Rica,^[56] then they drew 1–1 against Germany and lost 2–1 against Japan, in which they finished second in Group E. In the round of 16, they lost to Morocco 3–0 in penalty shootouts after a goalless draw, to be their third consecutive elimination from a major tournament on penalties.^[57]

2023 Nations League Win