Their approach combines a clearly defined playing style, early talent identification and a coaching structure designed to ensure players learn the same principles as they progress through the youth ranks.
Spain aim to extend their 43-match unbeaten run this week in the Nations League, with the playing philosophy that propelled them to World Cup glory this summer the product of years of work at every level of the game.
Their approach combines a clearly defined playing style, early talent identification and a coaching structure designed to ensure players learn the same principles as they progress through the youth ranks.
"For us there is clearly a turning point in 2008, when (then Spain national team coach) Luis Aragones won the European Championship," David Gutierrez, director of the Spanish football federation's (RFEF) national school of coaches, told AFP on a visit to their Las Rozas base.
Aragones's Spain played in a new way. The coach believed that Spanish players could not compete with their rivals physically, but were better suited for a system based on "ball control, collective play, positional play and combinations".
"He gave us a line to follow," said Gutierrez, with Spain going on to win the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012, inspired by technically gifted players like Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta.
