Spain’s magnificent eight, triple champions under Luis de la Fuente

Spain’s magnificent eight make up the core of the three trophies won under Luis de la Fuente. Since 19 July, a second star has been sewn onto the Spanish shirt, and Ferran’s goal stands as the symbol of the national team’s fresh start. This is the fifth chapter since the coach took charge of the senior side.

Of the previous four spells, three ended at the summit: the 2023 Nations League, Euro 2024 and the 2026 World Cup. The only exception was the 2025 Nations League final, lost on penalties to Portugal after a 2-2 draw in Munich, with Portugal winning the shootout 5-3.

Of the 80 players De la Fuente has given minutes to since March 2023, including the seven debutants in the support group taken to a friendly in La Coruña before the trip to the World Cup, only eight took part in all three triumphs. Those champions are Unai Simón, David Raya, Laporte, Rodri, Fabián, Zubimendi, Merino and Olmo. At Wembley, they carry the ambition to keep Spain as the most dominant team in the world, with the target of reaching a fourth Nations League final in a competition now in its fifth edition.

Two goalkeepers are part of that octet. Unai Simón started every match in those final stages except the third game of the Euros, when the entire team was rotated. David Raya was in goal on that occasion; he has been Unai’s understudy in every title.

In defence, only one position has resisted the upheaval: Laporte’s. The leader of Spain’s back line ran operations in the three finals they won. In the 2025 Nations League final defeat, he watched from the stands after being left out because he was not playing in Saudi Arabia. Alongside him, Le Normand won the Nations League and the Euros, while Cubarsí made a strong impression at his World Cup at the age of 19. On the right, Navas and then Carvajal gave way to an impressive Pedro Porro. On the other flank, Jordi Alba won the Nations League against Croatia, before the Marc Cucurella era began in March 2024, when he was called up urgently following Gayà’s injury. The 2023 final against Croatia ended 0-0.

Midfield brings together five players who have been alongside De la Fuente in each of his successes. Zubimendi and David Raya are the only two players to have appeared in all 17 of the coach’s squads. Zubimendi was on the pitch when Oyarzabal scored the winning goal at the Euros, and when Ferran finished at the MetLife against Argentina. Spain beat England 2-1 in the Euro final, while the World Cup final ended in a 1-0 win over Argentina.

In the three finals Spain won, Rodri was the starting holding midfielder. He was unavailable for the defeat against Portugal in Munich because of the serious knee injury he suffered in September 2024. Around him, Dani Olmo, Fabián Ruiz and Mikel Merino are three untouchable figures for De la Fuente. Olmo arrived carrying fitness issues for the 2023 Nations League and the Euros, but was important on both occasions: he came on for extra time in Rotterdam and was then decisive in Germany, in attack and in defence with a crucial headed clearance.

Fabián’s and Merino’s roles need little explanation. Starting with one or the other was non-negotiable until Spain fielded both from the outset at the World Cup against Saudi Arabia, Austria and Belgium. That did not lessen their importance: both came onto the pitch in every match of their first World Cup.

That backbone does not encompass every key player in the national team. Nico Williams missed the 2023 Final Four because of an injury sustained at the Bernabéu on the final league matchday. Mikel Oyarzabal was also absent from that squad after disappearing from the call-ups following the defeat in Glasgow, but he returned in October and did not leave them again.

The Nations League still eludes a sizeable group of players, led by Ferran Torres. The MetLife hero had been Spain’s leading figure at the 2021 Final Four thanks to his two goals against Italy in the semi-final. He was outside De la Fuente’s plans for the 2023 title, then missed the 2025 edition after surgery following an appendicitis attack.

Pedri and Lamine Yamal started the final lost to Portugal in Munich in June 2025. In the 2021 and 2023 editions, Pedri was dealing with the run of injuries that followed that summer. Lamine Yamal was only 14 when the first edition was played and, in the second, was only a few months away from making his senior international debut.

Cucurella, Grimaldo and Baena also share the status of World Cup and European champions. Gavi and Yeremy Pino hold the World Cup-Nations League double, having missed the Euros because of serious knee injuries suffered in autumn 2023. Of the 26 players De la Fuente took to win the Euros, five were Olympic champions in Paris in 2024: Joan García, Eric García, Pau Cubarsí, Marc Pubill and Álex Baena. The player from Almería at Atlético de Madrid is the only one in that group with a particular three-leaf collection of titles with the national team, just as Fermín, absent in the United States through injury, completed a historic summer in 2024 by becoming European and Olympic champion.