{"id":57016,"date":"2026-07-18T12:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T12:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/57016\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T12:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T12:24:08","slug":"the-british-expats-in-spain-with-a-plan-b-for-the-world-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/57016\/","title":{"rendered":"The British expats in Spain with a Plan B for the World Cup final"},"content":{"rendered":"

MADRID \u2013 For some British expats in Spain<\/a>, the motivation is revenge for the way Argentina beat England<\/a> in their ill-tempered semi-final. For others, La Roja is their default second team, in the country they have chosen as their adopted home<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whatever the reason, many British football fans watching the World Cup final on Sunday from Spain will be cheering on the likes of Lamine Yamal<\/a> and Mikel Merino. From Benidorm to Barcelona and Mallorca, they will be huddling around screens in crowded bars or watching from home.<\/p>\n

Louise Letchford, a head teacher at a British school who lives near Benidorm, said her family is a \u201cvery British family\u201d but after living in Spain for 23 years, they will be cheering on Spain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will be very proud to support Spain,\u201d the 46-year-old from Stockport told The i Paper.<\/p>\n

She is not alone among the more than 260,000 British expats<\/a> living in Spain (some put that number much higher).<\/p>\n

Louise Wilson, a self-confessed \u2018football mum\u2019 who said she and her four children are mad about the beautiful game, said she was \u201cgutted\u201d about the England result but has a Plan B.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Spain and I love Spanish football<\/a>. I think they are a brilliant team,\u201d she said. \u201cI really would have loved it if England had won so they would be playing Spain. But when Argentina won<\/a>, I thought \u2018Oh god, here we go again\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Louise Letchford and her father during the World Cup (Photo: Supplied)<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like the way Argentina plays. They are rough,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Wilson, an investment consultant who works for a UK company, is originally from Manchester but now lives in Malaga<\/a>. She\u2019s been in Spain for 31 years and said her half-Spanish children would have supported Spain if they faced England in the final. She would have supported England.<\/p>\n

Her daughter is a former Miss Spain and entered the Miss World beauty contest, and her three sons are keen footballers who support Real Madrid<\/a> and their mother\u2019s team, Manchester United<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wilson said after England had stumbled at the final hurdle on so many occasions it was nice to have an alternative. \u201cWe kind of get the best of two worlds. I would be happy if either of them won,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For Nick Dalby, a marketing director who lives in Barcelona<\/a> and travels to see England play at tournaments, it is a similar story: his two daughters would support Spain if they had faced England in the final.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy two daughters would have preferred Spain to win over England \u2013 to my disappointment,\u201d he told The i Paper. \u201cAs a proud Englishman I would have preferred them to be in the final, but without them we will turn our support to Spain.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the tiny village of Sant Joan in Mallorca<\/a>, former local mayor Richard Thompson<\/a> said he would switch his allegiance to Spain after England\u2019s defeat.<\/p>\n

\"England'sEngland\u2019s supporters in a bar in Benidorm, Spain, after the semi-final defeat (Photo: Jose Jordan\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cI think many people, like me, who have lived over in Spain for a while have a loyalty to Spain after their own country. I have lived in Spain for 25 years so it is natural that I will be supporting them,\u201d the 55-year-old teacher, who is originally from West Sussex, said.<\/p>\n

Thompson has just come to the end of a three-year stint as mayor for Sant Joan, which has a population of 2,700, including ten Britons. He said he will be watching the game in a small bar in the village.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are 40 nationalities in the village. The Argentinians were celebrating quite a lot last night,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Thompson said he divides his footballing loyalties between Nottingham Forest, Brighton and Portsmouth.<\/p>\n

Ashley Woodhall \u2013 a self-confessed \u2018sofa England fan\u2019 who will try to get tickets for Euro 2028 when it is hosted in the UK and Ireland \u2013 said that he would be cheering on Spain on Sunday from his home near Barcelona.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe result wasn\u2019t good, but Argentina deserved the win,\u201d he said of England\u2019s semi-final. But the 35-year-old data security consultant from Sheffield said: \u201cI am proud [of the England team] after the tournament, especially the game against Mexico, I feel more connected to them as humans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Watson, who is in his sixties and has a holiday home in Marbella, is clear about why he will be switching his loyalties to Spain.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is because of the dirty play of the Argentina players and their fouling,\u201d he said. \u201cI also have a fondness for Spain. I am sure all of my friends over there will also be 100% behind Spain, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others have a similar feeling. Tim Parfitt, an author and producer who lives in Sitges, near Barcelona, said he would not support Argentina after the team\u2019s aggressive behaviour against England.<\/p>\n

Parfitt said it was shameful that players paraded a poster<\/a> reading \u2018Las Malvinas Son Argentinas\u2019 (The Falklands Are Argentine) in contravention of Fifa rules which ban political statements at matches.<\/p>\n

Parfitt has recently published The Madrid Connection, a novel about mafias, football corruption and a stolen Caravaggio painting. \u201cTo be honest, I feel half Spanish anyway even though I am 100% Brit,\u201d he said. \u201cI have been as excited for the Spain team as I have been for England.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MADRID \u2013 For some British expats in Spain, the motivation is revenge for the way Argentina beat England…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[92,8629,1936,2457,600,17,17080,3003],"class_list":["post-57016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-barcelona","tag-england-football","tag-expats","tag-malaga","tag-mallorca","tag-spain","tag-spain-football","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}