Spain is home to soccer royalty.
Real Madrid and Barcelona are the two biggest clubs in the world by revenue. The winner of the Ballon d’Or, the award for the world’s best player, typically belongs to a Spanish club. Catalonia-born Pep Guardiola is the most influential coach of the past 40 years. And on the national level, Spain’s side has won three of the past five European Championships.
But Spain is not one of the World Cup’s historically dominant teams.
Its record does not compare to those of Brazil, Germany, or Argentina. Between 1950 and 2010, Spain won a total of three knock-out matches, and never progressed beyond the quarterfinals. Then, in 2010, it made the leap to World Cup winner.
What Spain has achieved in the past two decades is unprecedented. It has not only made the leap from fodder to frontrunner, but also completely changed the way its national team plays—setting itself up as the favorite going into Sunday’s World Cup final against Argentina.
