page_title: History of the Spain national football team
section_title: 2000s: Start of golden years and Euro 2008 triumph
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Spain national football team / 2000s: Start of golden years and Euro 2008 triumph
caption_attribution_description: Fernando Torres, Iker Casillas, Raúl Albiol and other members of the Spain national football team celebrating Spain's Euro 08 championship
context_page_description: The history of the Spain national football team dates back to the team's formation and first ever international match in 1920. The Spain national football team has experienced a number of successes, most notably their victory at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
context_section_description: After a 3–2 opening defeat to Cyprus in Euro 2000 qualifying, Clemente was fired and José Antonio Camacho was appointed as coach. Spain won the rest of their games to qualify for the final tournament, where they were drawn into Group C. A 1–0 defeat to Norway was followed by victories over Slovenia (2–1) and Yugoslavia (4–3), with Spain thus setting up a quarter-final against 1998 World Cup champions France, which was won 2–1 by eventual Euro champions France, with Raúl missed a penalty in the final minutes.
  The qualifying tournament for the 2002 World Cup went as expected for Spain as the team topped a group consisting of Austria, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Liechtenstein. In the final tournament, Spain won its three matches in group B, against Slovenia, Paraguay (both by a score of 3–1) and South Africa (3–2). Spain beat the Republic of Ireland on penalties in the second round, and faced co-hosts South Korea in the quarter-finals. In what is considered a highly controversial match, Spain eventually lost in a penalty shootout after having two goals called back for alleged infractions during regular and extra time.
  At Euro 2004 qualifying, Spain only finished second in their group, being stunned by the Greeks with a shock home loss and only managed to qualify for Euro 2004 by overcoming Norway. In the main tournament, Spain was drawn into group A with hosts Portugal, Russia and Greece, behind whom they had finished second in qualifying. Spain defeated Russia 1–0 and drew 1–1 with Greece, but failed to get the draw they needed against Portugal to proceed to the knock out stages. Iñaki Sáez was sacked weeks later and replaced by Luis Aragonés.
  Spain qualified for the 2006 World Cup only after a play-off against Slovakia, as they had finished behind Serbia and Montenegro in Group 7, which also included Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Lithuania and San Marino. In Group H of the German hosted finals, Spain won all their matches, and beat Ukraine 4–0, Tunisia 3–1 and Saudi Arabia 1–0. Spain, however, fell 3–1 in the second round to France, with only the consolation of a share, with Brazil, of the 2006 FIFA Fair Play Award.
  After being eliminated from the competition, Luis Aragonés came to the decision that the team was not physical or tough enough to be able to out-muscle opponents, they therefore opted to start concentrating on monopolising the ball and thus started to employ the tiki-taka – a style characterised by short passing and movement, working the ball through various channels, and maintaining possession. Raphael Honigstein describes it as "a significant upgrade of the Dutch 'total football', a system that relied on players changing positions".
  Spain qualified for Euro 2008 at the top of Qualifying Group F with 28 points out of a possible 36, and were seeded 12th for the finals. They won all their games in Group D: 4–1 against Russia, and 2–1 against both Sweden and defending champions Greece.
  Reigning World Cup holders Italy were the opponents in the quarter final match, and held Spain to a finished 0–0 draw resulting in a penalty shoot-out which Spain won 4–2. Spain met Russia again in the semi-final, again beating them, this time 3–0.
  In the final, played in Vienna's Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Spain defeated Germany 1–0, with a goal scored by Fernando Torres in the 33rd minute. This was Spain's first major title since the 1964 European Championship. Spain were the top scoring team, with 12 goals, and David Villa finished as the top scorer with four goals; Xavi was awarded the player of the tournament, and nine Spanish players were picked for the Euro 2008 Team of the Tournament.
  Luis Aragonés left the manager's role after the Euro 2008 success, and was replaced by Vicente del Bosque.
  2008 saw David Villa score 16 goals in 15 games, breaking the Spanish record of ten goals in one year held by Raúl since 1999. On 11 February 2009, Villa broke another Spanish record as his 36th-minute goal against England saw him become the first Spanish player to score in six consecutive games.
  By the start of the tournament, Del 
caption: Spanish players celebrating their victory in Madrid.
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