When Mexico kicked off the 2026 World Cup against South Africa on June 11, the world came to a screeching halt. For the next 38 days, all eyes would be fixed on the pitch as nations competed for the highest honor of the most popular sport on the planet.
Headlined by an expanded field of contenders, co-hosting countries offering new cultural perspectives and final national appearances for some of soccer’s greatest superstars, the ending of this tournament actually feels more like a new beginning.
Not a single one of the Spanish starters is over age 30. Their captain, 30-year-old Rodri, took home the Golden Ball award for the tournament’s best player.
It was 26-year-old Ferran Torres who scored the winning goal in extra time of the final, clinching the tournament for Spain.
While 19-year-old defender Pau Cabarsi took home the Best Young Player award, it’s fellow 19-year-old Lamine Yamal who has captivated fans worldwide with his stellar play and is projected to be the sport’s next great icon.
The point being, this Spanish squad isn’t going anywhere. It’s already threatening to become the third country to win back-to-back World Cups — the first since Brazil in 1962 — a feat the team just kept Argentina from achieving.
Lionel Messi proverbially passing the torch to Lamine Yamal feels like something straight out of a movie, but Spain earned this victory with far more than the strength of its plot armor.
It was simply the most dominant defensive team of all time. Its one allowed goal is the fewest of any country in the history of the World Cup, topping a record shared by its own 2010 championship squad.
Goalkeeper Unai Simón shut out some of the most prolific scorers the beautiful game has to offer, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, and of course, Messi.
What’s more impressive is that with 48 teams in the field, Spain’s run included an eighth game, which no team had to play before.
Under coach Luis de la Fuente, Spain is undefeated in international play and now has two major tournament titles.
Fan-favorite defender Marc Cucurella declared that if the Spaniards had taken home soccer’s greatest prize, he would get a tattoo of his coach’s face “somewhere visible” on his body.
De la Fuente says he plans on holding him to it.
“I am too old for tattoos, but my players are men of their word, and I know they will stick to their word,” he said in a press conference. “They made a mistake, and they will stick to it. I am not that ugly."
His reaction is a testament to the team’s relationship in the locker room and the standards to which he holds his players — both of which show up on the pitch.
Of the 13 goals Spain scored over the course of the tournament, 10 were assisted and zero players were booked more than once.
While most of the recent champions and teams in this year’s tournament were led by one or two attacking stars, Spain’s win stands out as a complete team effort.
When the World Cup returns in 2030 for its centennial celebration, one of the three host nations will be referred to as “campeones defensores del mundo” and don “dos estrellas” on their hearts for the first time.
Contact Brayden Schultz at bschultz@alligator.org. Follow him on X @schultzbrayden9.
