Real Madrid are Spain’s most decorated club, and many of its players have starred for the country at World Cups throughout the competition’s history.Therefore it was quite a shock to see no Real Madrid players named in Spain’s squad for this summer’s tournament — the first time this has ever happened in the country’s 17 participations since 1934.Spain manager Luis de la Fuente named his 26-strong squad in Madrid on Monday. There were eight players from La Liga champions Barcelona, and many representatives from other Spanish top-flight clubs including Atletico Madrid, Athletic Club, Real Sociedad, Celta Vigo and Osasuna.In the Premier League, Arsenal, Manchester City, Crystal Palace and Chelsea had players included, as did Paris Saint-Germain in France and Bayer Leverkusen in Germany.The closest Madrid player to making the team was 21-year-old centre-back Dean Huijsen who, 12 months ago, looked to have secured a Spain starting spot with some strong performances while still a Bournemouth player.But shaky form at club level since joining Madrid for £50million ($67.5m) last summer led De la Fuente to look at other options, and Barcelona’s Pau Cubarsi and Atletico Madrid’s Marc Pubill got the nod ahead of him.In 2024, Madrid right-back Dani Carvajal was vice-captain as Spain won the European Championship in Germany. The 34-year-old has since fallen out of contention due to injury and form at club level. He was not even included in De La Fuente’s 55-strong provisional squad, and is set to leave Madrid this summer on the expiry of his contract.Madrid had few other realistic candidates. Left-back Fran Garcia, 26, won two caps under De la Fuente in October 2023 but has not been called up since. Raul Asencio, 23, was called up for UEFA Nations League games in March 2025 but did not play and has since fallen out of the picture.Madrid centre-forward Gonzalo Garcia, 22, has six goals in seven caps for Spain’s under-21s but is yet to step up to senior level (although he will join the squad as a supplementary player for training before a warm-up friendly against Iraq on June 4).Madrid left-back Alvaro Carreras, 23, is another to have starred at youth level for Spain, but he too has had a difficult first season at the Bernabeu since joining for €50million (£43m; $58.2m) from Benfica in July.In pre-season there was a lot of talk around the Bernabeu of a new core of younger Spanish players — especially Huijsen, Carreras and Garcia — developing together under new coach Xabi Alonso, who won the World Cup (in 2010) and European Championship twice (in 2008 and 2012) with Spain.However, Alonso was sacked in January as a response to deep issues within the squad, and the situation did not improve much under successor Alvaro Arbeloa — another former Spain player of that glorious period.Huijsen played for Spain in a friendly in March (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)Madrid going consecutive campaigns without winning a major trophy has also contributed to internationals from other countries missing out on this summer’s World Cup.Right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold did not do enough to convince England manager Thomas Tuchel, while midfielder Eduardo Camavinga paid for a poor season at club level by losing his place in the France squad.Playmaker Franco Mastantuono, 18, who broke into the Argentina team before moving to Madrid for €62million (about £53m/$72m at current rates) last summer, could also now miss out after a really disappointing first term at the Bernabeu.A contrasting case is Victor Munoz, a winger who came through Madrid’s youth system but was sold to Osasuna for €5million (£4m/$6m) last summer after playing just 47 minutes for the first team.Munoz, 22, showed his quality with seven goals and five assists in 36 games this season, scoring on his senior Spain debut in March. He is now going to the World Cup.Madrid will have high-profile representatives at this summer’s tournament in Kylian Mbappe and Aurelien Tchouameni with France, Vinicius Junior with Brazil, Jude Bellingham with England, Arda Guler with Turkey, and Federico Valverde with Uruguay. Brahim Diaz, who switched from representing Spain to Morocco in March 2024, is very likely to be there, too.The Spain squad’s eight Barcelona players include La Masia graduates Cubarsi, Gavi, Lamine Yamal, plus others signed from other clubs such as Pedri, Joan Garcia and Ferran Torres. Dani Olmo did graduate from Barca’s youth academy but returned to the club in a €60million (£52m/$70m) deal with RB Leipzig in August 2024.The country’s World Cup-winning side of 2010 drew its core from a successful Barcelona team coached by Pep Guardiola, including Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol.But Madrid also contributed very important players — including captain Iker Casillas, defender Sergio Ramos, Alonso and Arbeloa.Mixing the best of Catalan flair and Castilian grit was considered a key factor in the success of that team (the only Spain side to have won the World Cup) and they were managed by Vicente del Bosque, a former Madrid player and coach.Del Bosque led Spain to the 2010 World Cup and 2012 European Championship (Patrick Hertzog/AFP/Getty Images)Before this year, there has always been at least one Madrid player in each of Spain’s World Cup squads. Only once before has there been just a single representative: Luis Molowny for the tournament held in Brazil in 1950.The number has been trending down recently, however. There were six Madrid players in Spain’s squad for the 2018 edition, but just two in 2022 (Carvajal and Marco Asensio, currently at Turkish club Fenerbahce). The Spanish squad for Euro 2020 (played in 2021 due to Covid-19) had no Madrid players in it.Although the possibility had been commented on in advance, it was still a big surprise to see no Real Madrid players on De la Fuente’s list, even if the manager tried to play the issue down.“I don’t look at where the players come from,” the 64-year-old said at a press conference on Monday. “They’re national team players, I don’t look at one club or another. I don’t have the same local bias that a fan might have. All I want is for these players to feel proud to represent the national team.”But the issue was seized upon by Enrique Riquelme, the 37-year-old renewable energy entrepreneur who is challenging long-serving Madrid chief Florentino Perez in a hastily-called presidential election at the Bernabeu.“The most Madrid could have hoped for was one Madridista in a squad which is full of players from our main rivals,” Riquelme said at a press conference further detailing his candidature on Monday.“We hope that, if Madrid club members decide to, we can change that and return to having great players (from Real Madrid) in the Spain team who make us feel proud.”Whether Madrid’s members care enough about the situation to vote against Perez remains to be seen.But for many Madrid supporters, especially those in Spain, a painful club season is now followed by further disappointment at international level.