The Spain national football team, governed by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), has its roots in the early twentieth century. The RFEF was founded in 1909, making Spain one of the older footballing nations in continental Europe, and the national team began competing in international fixtures around the same era. For much of the twentieth century, Spain was considered an underachiever on the world stage relative to the domestic quality of La Liga, winning the UEFA European Championship in 1964 on home soil as an early high point.
The team's identity was transformed in the late 2000s and early 2010s, when a generation built around technical passing, positional control, and relentless pressing — a style often labelled tiki-taka — produced the most dominant run in international football history. Spain won three consecutive major tournaments: UEFA Euro 2008, the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa, and UEFA Euro 2012. That squad, drawing heavily from FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, redefined how the international game was played and remains the benchmark era for the team.
After a transitional period through the mid-2010s, Spain rebuilt around a younger generation and claimed the UEFA Nations League in 2021 and then UEFA Euro 2024, demonstrating continued ability to compete at the highest level. The team's identity is defined by technical quality, tactical sophistication, and one of the world's deepest domestic development pipelines through La Liga clubs.