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Whether in Wrexham, Sarajevo or New Jersey, the outcome was the same this month: Spain winning another international tournament.
Ferran Torres' 106th-minute winner against Argentina in Sunday's FIFA World Cup final in the United States crowned another golden summer for Spanish football. It followed success at the men's U19 European Championship in Wales and the women's U19 European Championship in Bosnia-Herzegovina earlier in July. More importantly, perhaps, it meant Spain became the first-ever nation to hold the men's and women's World Cup titles simultaneously.
Three years ago, Olga Carmona's strike in Sydney earned La Roja a 1-0 win against England and their first Women's World Cup trophy. Torres' goal on Sunday led to Spain's second star in the men's game.
It is no coincidence they sit at the top of the world -- and FIFA's World Ranking -- in both disciplines. There is no country where the coaching, player pathways and tactics are so aligned and intertwined.
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"At every level, they play the same way," former France international Thierry Henry said on FOX after Sunday's 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."
Spain have not always been a superpower. Prior to the 2000s, they had only ever won the men's European Championships in 1968, and frequently disappointed at major tournaments. However, things changed after Euro 2004 with the appointment of Luis Aragonés as head coach. They have since won three of the last five European Championships (2008, 2012, 2024) and two World Cups (2010, 2026) in the men's game, and the women's World Cup in 2023.
There is a consistency to how those players who, across the men's and women's games, have gone on to enjoy so much success have been developed. Swathes of them have played together at youth level. World Cup Golden Ball winner Rodri, goalkeeper Unai Simón and midfielder Mikel Merino, the match-winner in the round of 16 and the quarterfinal, all won the U19 European Championship under current Spain boss Luis de la Fuente in 2015. Four years later, Simón and Merino, in addition to Fabián Ruiz, Dani Olmo and Mikel Oyarzabal all won the U21 European Championships under the same coach.
On the women's side, the team that won the U19 European Championships in 2017 included Ona Batlle, Patri Guijarro and Aitana Bonmatí. The current coach, Sonia Bermúdez, won the same tournament in 2023 and 2024 with a generation of players who are expected to break into the senior setup under her in the coming years.
Spain's domination of youth tournaments this century has been staggering. They claimed this year's men's U19 European Championship by winning all five of their games, scoring 19 goals and not conceding one. They have won the competition a tournament-high 13 times now. Meanwhile, they have won the women's U19 European Championship eight times, including the last five editions, dating back to 2022.
That should not be completely sugarcoated. The advances in the women's game are relatively recent and at times have been in spite of Spain's football federation rather than because of it. The current crop of players, led by Irene Paredes and Alexia Putellas, have had to fight hard to improve working conditions and lay the foundations for success for the next generation.
But it cannot be denied that all of those teams, from the youngsters through to the reigning men's and women's world champions, play in a recognizable way. That comes from a shift in focus over the last two decades, during which time Spain have leant into their strengths and trusted their approach.
That consists of creating technical players through excellent coaching and, where possible, bringing those players through together. There is a reason why De la Fuente and Bermúdez were given the top jobs whereas other countries have looked for big-name managers like Carlo Ancelotti (Brazil), Thomas Tuchel (England) and Mauricio Pochettino (USMNT). They know the environment.
No other nation has placed as much emphasis on coaching, in fact. UEFA no longer offers breakdowns of qualified coaches by nation, but the last official statistics from 2013 revealed the gulf between Spain and the rest of Europe: Spain had 15,423 UEFA A and Pro-licensed coaches, far ahead of Germany (6,937), France (3,308), Italy (2,281) and England (1,395), highlighting the extraordinary investment in coaching education.
That can be seen across the top level of the game. Some of the biggest teams in the Premier League have Spanish coaches: Mikel Arteta at champions Arsenal, Unai Emery at Aston Villa, and now Xabi Alonso at Chelsea and Andoni Iraola at Liverpool (while Pep Guardiola has just left Manchester City after winning six titles in 10 years.)
Spanish coaches are also present in the Women's Super League -- Eder Maestre at London City Lionesses and Natalia Arroyo at Villa -- and across the top level of the women's game; Jonatan Giráldez is in charge of OL Lyonnes and José Barcala leads Bayern Munich.
All have their own nuances and styles, but it is usually recognizably Spanish, drawn from the three P's which provided the foundation for the philosophy implemented by Johan Cruyff as Barcelona coach between 1988-1994: Possession, Positioning and Pressing.
As a result, Barça's La Masia academy has provided the backbone for the most successful Spain sides. Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba, Xavi Hernández, Andres Iniesta and Pedro, among others, played key roles in the various sides which won back-to-back Euros in 2008 and 2012 and the World Cup in 2010.
Spain's squad this summer included eight Barça players (it would have been nine if Fermín López was not injured) and another three players (Víctor Muñoz, Alejandro Grimaldo and Marc Cucurella) who have spent time at La Masia. Barça forward Torres scored the winning goal in the final, defender Pau Cubarsí was the Young Player of the Tournament, and Lamine Yamal, Olmo and Pedri all played their part, too.
The Barça influence across Spain's women's team is even bigger. Most of the starters are either Barça players or have spent time at the Catalan club: Cata Coll, Batlle, Paredes, Mapi León, Laia Aleixandri, Guijarro, Bonmatí, Putellas, Clàudia Pina, Vicky López, Salma Paralluelo, Mariona Caldentey ...
However, to only speak of Barça is to do other academies in Spain a disservice. Spain's identity may take inspiration from Barça, but it is nationalized through coaching, youth development, federation continuity and the other clubs. Teams like Real Betis, Villarreal, Athletic Club and Real Sociedad are all excellent at nurturing talent as well.
The result is players that know their role. It is why an injury to Rodri in the Euro 2024 final against England did not rock De la Fuente's side. Instead, Martín Zubimendi replaced him and La Roja continued to play exactly as they had done.
"It doesn't matter if [Álex] Baena plays, if Nico Williams plays, whoever it is," Henry added in his analysis on FOX. "They know what they need to do since they are nine years old. That's why am I talking about who are you, what's your philosophy, what's your identity?
"When a guy comes in, even if it's first cap, he knows the system, because they play the same system. It's pretty simple when you hear about it and see what they did, but you need to think about it."
At the top level, it is still reliant on individual talent. It is why the emergence of Yamal and Williams in recent years has added a spark to a style that had become questioned during those barren years for the men's team between 2014 and 2022, but the trust in the process has never waned.
The late Aragonés' mantra was "stay calm, you're the better team," and this was the case against Argentina in Sunday's final. Spain trusted in their technique, talent and possession to finally breakdown an opponent seeking to repeat as world champions that did not register a shot on goal in 90 minutes. Across 900 World Cup games for which Opta has the statistics, it is only the third time a team has failed to hit the target.
No one ever really had a chance this summer. The way Cubarsí and Spain's defense pocketed Kylian Mbappé and France in the semifinal was representative of the team's 0.3 expected goals allowed (xGA) per game across their eight fixtures at the finals. You could not get the ball off them. Rodri completed an all-time World Cup-high 756 passes; Cubarsí (671) and Aymeric Laporte (616) joined him in a top five which also includes Rodri from 2022 (638) and Xavi from 2010 (596), with the caveat that this year's 48-team tournament included an extra match.
In a competition headlined by the game's superstars -- Lionel Messi with Argentina, Erling Haaland with Norway, Mbappé with France, and Jude Bellingham with England -- it was Spain's team-centered approach which came up trumps. Perhaps that is not such a surprise given the pattern we have seen in club football, where Paris Saint-Germain's back-to-back UEFA Champions League wins have been drawn from a team ethos despite the obvious individual talent which Luis Enrique -- another Spanish coach -- has at his disposal.
"I'm so proud of this generation of footballers who have grown up with this philosophy, remained true to it and made it even better," De la Fuente said after Sunday's win.
It is not a guarantee of winning every tournament, but as Spain's men, women and youth teams repeatedly demonstrate, it is as close to it as possible in international football.
It is why, regardless of personnel or context going into the tournament, La Roja have every reason to believe the women can add their second star at the Women's World Cup in Brazil next summer. There is a framework in place that the USWNT, France, Germany or even England, despite winning back-to-back women's European Championships, would love to replicate.
"What good did winning Euro 2004 do Greece apart from giving them 10 minutes of glory?" former Real Madrid assistant coach Ángel Cappa famously asked in 2008. "None. Spain, on the other hand, have found a pathway."
