Spain at the FIFA World Cup explained

Spain is one of only eight countries ever to have won the FIFA World Cup, doing so in South Africa in 2010, the first time the team had reached the final.https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/jul/11/world-cup-final-spain-champions The team is one of the most present at the World Cup, with 16 appearances out of the 22 tournaments. Prior to their win in 2010, Spain's best World Cup result was a fourth-place finish in 1950.https://rfef.es/en/noticias/history-of-the-spain-national-team-part-11-the-1950-world-cup-in-brazil

Spain have reached the semi-finals twice and the quarter-finals six times, but have not reached the last 8 since their triumph in 2010.

FIFA World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record									FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Round	Position
1930	Did Not Enter								Did Not Enter
1934	Quarter-Finals	5th	3	1	1	1	4	3	2	2	0	0	11	1
1938	Withdrew								Withdrew
1950	Fourth Place	4th	6	3	1	2	10	12	2	1	1	0	7	3
1954	Did Not Qualify	3	1	1	1	6	4
1958	4	2	1	1	12	8
1962	Group Stage	13th	3	1	0	2	2	3	4	3	1	0	7	4
1966	Group Stage	10th	3	1	0	2	4	5	3	2	0	1	5	2
1970	Did Not Qualify	6	2	2	2	10	6
1974	5	2	2	1	8	6
1978	Group Stage	10th	3	1	1	1	2	2	4	3	0	1	4	1
1982	Second Group Stage	12th	5	1	2	2	4	5	Qualified as host
1986	Quarter-Finals	7th	5	3	1	1	11	4	6	4	0	2	9	8
1990	Round of 16	10th	4	2	1	1	6	4	8	6	1	1	20	3
1994	Quarter-Finals	8th	5	2	2	1	10	6	12	8	3	1	27	4
1998	Group Stage	17th	3	1	1	1	8	4	10	8	2	0	26	6
2002	Quarter-Finals	5th	5	3	2	0	10	5	8	6	2	0	21	4
2006	Round of 16	9th	4	3	0	1	9	4	12	6	6	0	25	5
2010	Champions	1st	7	6	0	1	8	2	10	10	0	0	28	5
2014	Group Stage	23rd	3	1	0	2	4	7	8	6	2	0	14	3
2018	Round of 16	10th	4	1	3	0	7	6	10	9	1	0	36	3
2022	Round of 16	13th	4	1	2	1	9	3	8	6	1	1	15	5
2026	to be determined								to be determined
2030	qualified as co-host								qualified as co-host
2034	To be determined								To be determined
Total	1 Title	16/25	67	31	17	19	108	75	125	87	26	12	291	81

Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out

Spain's World Cup record
First match	3–1 (27 May 1934; Genoa, Italy)
Biggest win	7–0 (23 November 2022; Doha, Qatar)
Biggest defeat	6–1 (13 July 1950; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Best result	Champions in 2010
Worst result	Group stage in 1962, 1966, 1978, 1998 and 2014

By match

Year	Round	Score	Spain scorers
1934		3–1	Iraragorri (2), Lángara
	Quarter-final	1–1
	Quarter-final	0–1
1950	Group 2	3–1	Igoa, Basora, Zarra
		2–0	Basora, Zarra
		1–0	Zarra
		2–2	Basora (2)
		1–6	Igoa
		1–3	Zarra
1962		0–1
		1–0	Peiró
		1–2	Adelardo
1966	Group 2	1–2	Pirri
		2–1	Sanchís, Amancio
		1–2	Fusté
1978	Group 3	1–2	Dani
		0–0
		1–0	Asensi
1982	Group 3	1–1	López Ufarte
		2–1	Juanito, Saura
		0–1
	Group B	1–2	Zamora
	Group B	0–0
1986	Group D	0–1
		2–1	Butragueño, Salinas
		3–0	Calderé (2), Eloy
		5–1	Butragueño (4), Goikoetxea
	Quarter-final	1–1	Señor
1990	Group E	0–0
		3–1	Míchel (3)
		2–1	Míchel, Górriz
	Round of 16	1–2	Salinas
1994	Group C	2–2	Salinas, Goikoetxea
		1–1	Goikoetxea
		3–1	Guardiola, Caminero (2)
	Round of 16	3–0	Hierro, Luis Enrique, Begiristain
	Quarter-final	1–2	Caminero
1998	Group D	2–3	Hierro, Raúl
		0–0
		6–1	Hierro, Luis Enrique, Morientes (2), Bachev (o.g.), Kiko
2002	Group B	3–1	Raúl, Valerón, Hierro
		3–1	Morientes (2), Hierro
		3–2	Raúl (2), Mendieta
	Round of 16	1–1	Morientes
	Quarter-final	0–0
2006	Group H	4–0	Alonso, Villa (2), Fern. Torres
		3–1	Raúl, Fern. Torres (2)
		1–0	Juanito
	Round of 16	1–3	Villa
2010	Group H	0–1
		2–0	Villa (2)
		2–1	Villa, Iniesta
	Round of 16	1–0	Villa
	Quarter-final	1–0	Villa
	Semi-final	1–0	Puyol
	Final	1–0	Iniesta
2014	Group B	1–5	Alonso
		0–2
		3–0	Villa, Fern. Torres, Mata
2018	Group B	3–3	Costa (2), Nacho
		1–0	Costa
		2–2	Isco, Aspas
	Round of 16	1–1	Ignashevich (o.g.)
2022	Group E	7–0	Olmo, Asensio, Ferr. Torres (2), Gavi, Soler, Morata
		1–1	Morata
		1–2	Morata
	Round of 16	0–0

By opponent

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD
5	1	2	2	5	6	−1
5	1	1	3	5	10	−5
3	2	1	0	4	1	+3
3	2	0	1	5	2	+3
3	2	0	1	4	3	+1
3	1	2	0	5	3	+2
3	0	1	2	2	4	−2
2	1	1	0	3	1	+2
2	1	1	0	4	3	+1
2	1	1	0	3	2	+1
2	1	1	0	1	0	+1
2	1	0	1	2	2	0
2	1	0	1	2	2	0
2	1	0	1	2	3	−1
2	1	0	1	2	5	−3
2	0	2	0	2	2	0
2	0	2	0	2	2	0
1	1	0	0	7	0	+7
1	1	0	0	6	1	+5
1	1	0	0	5	1	+4
1	1	0	0	4	0	+4
1	1	0	0	3	0	+3
1	1	0	0	3	0	+3
1	1	0	0	3	1	+2
1	1	0	0	3	1	+2
1	1	0	0	3	1	+2
1	1	0	0	3	1	+2
1	1	0	0	3	2	+1
1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
1	0	1	0	1	1	0
1	0	1	0	1	1	0
1	0	0	1	2	3	−1
1	0	0	1	1	2	−1
1	0	0	1	1	2	−1
1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
1	0	0	1	1	3	−2

2010 World Cup

The Spanish team went to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as European champions and enjoyed a record unbeaten streak of 35 matches from 2007 to 2009.https://www.reuters.com/article/sports/factbox-spains-35-match-unbeaten-run-idUSTRE55J1YN/ Although they lost their first match 1–0 against Switzerland, they went on to win the group after victories over Honduras and Chile, while the Swiss failed to win another match and were eliminated.

The Spanish team won all three following knockout matches by a score of 1–0, always scoring in the second half of regular time. The opponents were Portugal, Paraguay and Germany.

2010 World Cup Final v the Netherlands

See main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup Final.

It was Spain's first and the Netherlands' third appearance in a World Cup final, but neither had ever won a trophy. Spain was the dominating side with 57% ball possession, but the Dutch opponents had several chances as well. In a rough match, referee Howard Webb showed fourteen yellow cards and sent off Dutch defender John Heitinga in the second half of extra time, after regular time ended goalless. However, even with the five yellow cards received in the final, the Spanish team was awarded the FIFA Fair Play Trophy after collecting only eight yellow cards in seven matches.

The winning goal was scored by Andrés Iniesta, a right foot strike from inside the box after an assist by Cesc Fàbregas.https://www.marca.com/en/football/spanish-football/2020/07/10/5f079a3946163fd48a8b45f5.html


GK	1	Maarten Stekelenburg
RB	2
CB	3
CB	4
LB	5	Giovanni van Bronckhorst (c)
CM	6
CM	8
RW	11
AM	10	Wesley Sneijder
LW	7
CF	9
Substitutions:
MF	17
MF	23
DF	15
Manager:
Bert van Marwijk


GK	1	Iker Casillas (c)
RB	15
CB	3	Gerard Piqué
CB	5
LB	11
DM	16	Sergio Busquets
DM	14
CM	8
RW	6
LW	18
CF	7
Substitutions:
MF	22
MF	10
FW	9
Manager:
Vicente del Bosque

Man of the Match:
Andrés Iniesta (Spain)

Record players

Iker Casillas has captained Spain to their World Cup title in 2010 and won the Golden Glove award for best keeper at the same tournament.

Rank	Player	Matches	World Cups
1	Iker Casillas	17	2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014
1	Sergio Ramos	17	2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018
3	Andoni Zubizarreta	16	1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998
3	Sergio Busquets	16	2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022
5	Xavi	15	2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014
6	Carles Puyol	14	2002, 2006 and 2010
	Fernando Torres	14	2006, 2010 and 2014
	Andrés Iniesta	14	2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018
9	Xabi Alonso	13	2006, 2010 and 2014
10	Julio Salinas	12	1986, 1990 and 1994
	Fernando Hierro	12	1994, 1998 and 2002
	Luis Enrique	12	1994, 1998 and 2002
	David Villa	12	2006, 2010 and 2014
	Gerard Piqué	12	2010, 2014 and 2018

Top goalscorers

No Spanish player has ever won the Golden Boot, but Emilio Butragueño and Spain's record World Cup scorer David Villa have each won the Silver Boot after scoring five goals in 1986 and 2010 respectively.

Rank	Player	Goals	World Cups
1	David Villa	9	2006 (3), 2010 (5) and 2014 (1)
2	Emilio Butragueño	5	1986
	Fernando Morientes	5	1998 (2) and 2002 (3)
	Raúl	5	1998 (1), 2002 (3) and 2006 (1)
5	Estanislau Basora	4	1950
	Zarra	4	1950
	Míchel	4	1990
	Fernando Hierro	4	1998 (2) and 2002 (2)
	Fernando Torres	4	2006 (3) and 2014 (1)
10	Julio Salinas	3	1986, 1990 and 1994
	José Luis Caminero	3	1994
	Diego Costa	3	2018
	Álvaro Morata	3	2022