The rise and rise of Spanish football

euronews (in English)

2024 was another stellar year for Spanish football. Multiple trophies have been won at club and international stages.

Transcript

00:00It's been another incredible year for Spanish football and their dominance over European

00:05football continues. But how do they keep winning time and time again and what makes their football

00:11culture so unique?

00:17Hello and welcome to Football Now from the Albeit Stadium in Qatar. As 2024 draws to

00:23a close, it's plain to see that one nation has dominated proceedings in the world of

00:28football. Spain have had another stellar year on the pitch. Real Madrid won the Champions

00:33League again, along with the national team, winning Euro 2024 and bringing home a gold

00:37medal at the Paris Olympic Games.

00:41Since the turn of the century, Spanish teams have been almost unstoppable at every level

00:45of the game. One player who has been integral to this recent success has been Barcelona

00:50and international midfielder Aitana Bonmati.

01:17There's a saying in football that winning breeds winning and with Spain, that certainly

01:21seems to be the case. An astonishing stat for you. Dating back to 2002, Spanish teams

01:27have won all 27 of their most recent major cup finals. So let's take a look at just some

01:33of the accomplishments from that period.

01:36The first victory in this historic streak of wins was Real Madrid's Champions League

01:40final victory over Bayer Leverkusen at Hampton Park. Zinedine Zidane scored one of the most

01:46iconic goals in the competition's history. The national team became the first European

01:50side ever to win three major international trophies from 2008 to 2012, including their

01:57historic first ever World Cup win in South Africa.

02:002011, Barcelona win their second Champions League title in the space of three years under

02:06Pep Guardiola, with a dazzling performance against Manchester United that lives long

02:10in the memory. French full-back Eric Abidal lifted the trophy for Barca at Wembley, less

02:16than three months after being diagnosed with liver cancer.

02:46For me, 2011 was a special year, not just because of the Champions League, but also

02:52because of the illness and what I went through as a person and as a family. As I said, for

02:59me, the victory was to be able to finish the season with the team. Now I had the chance

03:03to play in this final, the chance to lift a trophy that I think is still marked in

03:08everyone's memory. But it's still a club. Barca always say it's a club, and that's

03:13what we tried to represent.

03:16The recent era has seen Real Madrid dominate the Champions League, winning five finals

03:20in Milan, Cardiff, Kiev, Paris and London since 2016. 2023 brought the first women's

03:27football success, as La Roja won the World Cup in Australia, overcoming England in the

03:32final. And it was the Three Lions again a year later who succumbed to the Spanish, this

03:36time in the men's 2024 European Championships. Mikel Iazabal scored the winner in the country's

03:43latest triumph. Winning is so deeply ingrained into the culture of Spanish football. It's

03:48actually hard to remember a time when they weren't consistently picking up trophies.

03:53So what is the secret to remaining so successful for so long?

03:57I think what's so consistent about it is it starts at a youth level. At a youth level,

04:02the development is very much focused on these technical skills. They're not trying to make

04:05these players the most fast players, the strongest players. They're focusing them on these technical

04:10skills, how to control the game. Like you look at Lamin Yamal, he's only 17 years old

04:14and he's such a smart player. He has fantastic awareness of the game and knows exactly where

04:19he wants to place the ball. And he's so smart with it. He's not the strongest player, but

04:22that's something that he's been focusing on more recently because he's working so many

04:26years on that technical part. And I think that's something that across the board, all

04:30over Spain, that's something that they really focus on. And that is consistent throughout

04:34the youth teams, the youth national teams. And then of course, with the national teams

04:37and on the club levels, that technical skill, having that flexibility and that awareness

04:41on the field is so much more important than being faster or being stronger.

04:45It's clear then that the Spanish often do things a little differently when it comes

04:49to their youth developments. And that's actually taken a step further in a region of Spain

04:53known as the Basque Country. It's an area so proud of their heritage, clubs based there

04:58only accept players who were born in the region.

05:02Like for example, Atletico Bilbao, they will only accept players who were born in the Basque

05:06Country. And that's like a tradition that they've held for forever, pretty much. And

05:11you would imagine that with how the football is now, they would try to get international

05:14players or the best international players, but they stick to their traditions and they

05:18only want these players. And they really focus on getting players in their youth teams. And

05:22I think that builds such a strong feeling of pride that they have to be from that region

05:27and to play for their club. And I think a lot of times those players who are at those

05:32clubs, they stay for a very long time. They really want to be with their team, even if

05:36they're not that successful, but they'd rather be there rather than go to another club like

05:40Real Madrid or Barcelona. And I think that's huge because it's like more than just money.

05:44They really enjoy representing their city in that region.

05:47Spanish football remains as strong as ever then after an incredible 2024. Let us know

05:52why you think teams from Spain win so many trophies using the hashtag football now Spanish

05:57dominance. That's all we've got time for here from the Albeit Stadium in Qatar. We'll see

06:02you next time. Bye for now.

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