Ferran Torres’ 106th-minute winner against Argentina in the FIFA World Cup final in the United States capped a golden summer for Spanish football, following victories at the men’s U19 European Championship in Wales and the women’s U19 European Championship in Bosnia-Herzegovina earlier in July. The run of success made Spain the first nation to hold the men’s and women’s World Cup titles at the same time, according to the report.
Three years earlier, Olga Carmona’s strike in Sydney secured a 1-0 win over England and Spain’s first Women’s World Cup. Torres’ goal in the recent final added a second star to the men’s team, and Spain now sit atop FIFA’s World Ranking in both the men’s and women’s games, the report said.
Those achievements reflect a degree of alignment across coaching, player pathways and tactics that is unique to Spain. “At every level, they play the same way,” former France international Thierry Henry said on Fox after the final. “This is why they’re dominating world football on every level. And it can be men, men and women, it doesn’t really matter. They go about it the same way.”
Continuity through the youth ranks has been an important part of that process. World Cup Golden Ball winner Rodri, goalkeeper Unai Simón and midfielder Mikel Merino were members of the U19 European Championship team coached by Luis de la Fuente in 2015. Four years later, Simón and Merino, along with Fabián Ruiz, Dani Olmo and Mikel Oyarzabal, won the U21 European Championship under the same coach.
On the women’s side, the U19 European Championship winners of 2017 included Ona Batlle, Patri Guijarro and Aitana Bonmatí. Sonia Bermúdez led teams to the U19 title in 2023 and 2024, with that generation expected to move into the senior setup in coming years. Spain’s record in youth tournaments this century has been striking: the men’s U19 side won all five games in this year’s tournament, scoring 19 goals and conceding none, and the country has claimed the competition a tournament-high 13 times.
Progress in the women’s game, while significant, has been relatively recent and not always driven by the federation. The current senior players, led by Irene Paredes and Alexia Putellas, fought to improve working conditions and lay foundations for the next generation. Over the past two decades Spain has leaned into a deliberate approach of creating technical players through coaching and a unified style.
