{"id":58474,"date":"2026-07-21T03:59:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T03:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/58474\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T03:59:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T03:59:23","slug":"spains-unprecedented-soccer-synergy-plus-entering-uncharted-territory-with-netflix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/58474\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain\u2019s unprecedented soccer synergy. Plus: Entering uncharted territory with Netflix"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Champions<\/p>\n

Spain makes history with World Cup double<\/p>\n

The rain in Spain\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0stay mainly in the plain; it covers the world.<\/p>\n

After yesterday\u2019s\u00a01-0 win over Argentina<\/a>\u00a0in the men\u2019s World Cup final,\u00a0Spain\u2019s men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams are now reigning World Cup champions \u2014 the first country to pull off that feat.<\/p>\n

After the men\u2019s team\u2019s captain, Rodri, collected his winners\u2019 medal and the Golden Ball for being the best player at the tournament, the midfielder made his way over to another Spanish legend, Aitana Bonmat\u00ed.<\/p>\n

The three-time Ballon d\u2019Or holder and fellow World Cup winner\u00a0told Rodri in a televised post-match interview<\/a>\u00a0that he was a \u201cfundamental pillar of the team.\u201d\u00a0Rodri responded with a compliment of his own, saying he was just \u201ctrying to replicate\u201d her achievements and \u201cget to her level.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just the biggest trophies; Spain\u2019s recent dominance is mind-blowingly comprehensive:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Spain raised the bar with this latest achievement<\/a>, as Tamerra Griffin writes:<\/p>\n

\u201cA footballing nation should be judged by the development and success of its men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spain has a national identity when it comes to its soccer \u2014 one that, in the last decade, has expanded to its women\u2019s program.<\/p>\n

But like the U.S. women, Spain\u2019s women\u2019s team has had to be at the forefront of demanding change,\u00a0whether it was ousting longtime head coach Ignacio Quereda in 2015 or protesting the federation ahead of the 2023 World Cup, when 15 players refused to take the field until conditions improved.<\/p>\n

And even after they reached the pinnacle of the sport, the federation ruined the celebrations when former president Luis Rubiales forcibly kissed forward Jenni Hermoso and was later\u00a0found guilty of sexually assaulting the player<\/a>. He was eventually removed from the federation along with then-head coach Jorge Vilda.<\/p>\n

The Spanish domestic and international programs only recently started to take women\u2019s soccer seriously and have relatively quickly found success.\u00a0Now that the men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams are connected in victory, there\u2019s a hopeful future, and it\u2019s hard to see anyone stopping the country in 2027.\u00a0(Though we did look, and DraftKings currently has the\u00a0U.S. as slight favorites over La Roja<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Shoutout to Borja Iglesias<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear there is a certain synergy between Spain\u2019s teams, but collaboration is easier when times are good. Winning matters.<\/p>\n

Before Spain\u2019s current men\u2019s success, one member of the team took a stance that could have jeopardized his career\u00a0\u2014 and easily made Sunday\u2019s trophy lift a distant dream.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Rubiales assaulted Hermoso on the world stage in 2023, then-Real Betis striker Borja Iglesias\u00a0boycotted the national team<\/a>, refusing to play until the disgraced federation president was removed.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old has frequently stood up for causes he believes in and faced backlash in doing so. Though he didn\u2019t feature on the field for Spain this tournament, Iglesias was very much part of the team and will take home a winner\u2019s medal.<\/p>\n

Iglesias and Hermoso \u2014 who worked as a pundit at this tournament \u2014 had a full-circle moment when they\u00a0shared an emotional hug after last week\u2019s semifinal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s teams have often had to drive change while also competing to win, but\u00a0it\u2019s important to spotlight allies helping shoulder some of that weight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World Champions Spain makes history with World Cup double The rain in Spain\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0stay mainly in the plain; it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[14086,17,23034],"class_list":["post-58474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-nwsl","tag-spain","tag-us-womens-national-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58474","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=58474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}