Spain’s World Cup champions are set to arrive home on Monday to a hero’s welcome in Madrid. About a million fans are expected to greet them after a night of loud celebrations all over the country.
This win has filled football-loving Spain with pride. Many younger fans had never seen the men’s team lift the World Cup since their last win in South Africa in 2010.
After their 1-0 victory against Argentina in the final on Sunday in East Rutherford, United States, coach Luis de la Fuente’s team is expected to land in Madrid at 12:50 pm (1050 GMT) with the golden trophy.
The players are likely to meet King Felipe VI and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez before getting on an open-top bus for a parade through central Madrid. The parade is set to start around 4:30 pm.
They will travel from near the Moncloa Palace, which is the prime minister’s official residence, to Cibeles Square. Francisco Martin shared this information with Spanish public television.
A ceremony for the players will happen at Cibeles Square. This location is where the Spanish national team and its supporters traditionally gather to celebrate.
About one million people are expected to line the parade route. There will be extra security and transport plans to manage the large crowds, Martin added.
A total of 2,050 police officers and 400 Civil Guard personnel will be on duty, he said.
The exact schedule for the events was not fully confirmed by Monday morning. Sanchez is set to make a brief trip to Algeria before coming back to Spain in the afternoon.
The royal household has not yet confirmed if the king will join the celebrations.
The atmosphere is expected to remind many of the celebrations after Spain’s first World Cup title in 2010. Back then, hundreds of thousands of fans filled the streets of Madrid to welcome the team after their victory in South Africa.
While waiting for the team’s arrival, celebrations continued from Madrid to Spain’s smallest villages on Sunday night.
Madrid was buzzing after the final, with thousands of fans in bars and three fan zones spilling into the streets to celebrate.
Car horns were honking, fireworks lit up the night, and supporters flooded the streets moments after the final whistle. This was despite a tense final where Spain struggled to break down Argentina’s defense.
At Colon Square in Madrid, where a fan zone was set up for the match, fans wrapped in Spain’s red-and-yellow flag sang and danced deep into the warm summer night. Others set off flares and fireworks, as an AFP journalist noted.
“Campeones, campeones! (Champions, champions!)” chanted excited fans.
Others shouted “Que viva Espana! (long live Spain)” as they celebrated a win that came just two years after Spain’s victory in Euro 2024. The women’s national team also holds the world title from 2023.
“You have faced each challenge with the conviction of a great team and have carried the name of Spain to the very top,” the Spanish Royal Household said on social media platform X. They praised the team for their “exemplary commitment in every match.”
“Today, we celebrate a title. Tomorrow we will remember a legend,” they added.
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