Records Spain broke with its Euro win...and other fun facts about La Roja

SPAIN'S last-minute win against England in the 2024 UEFA Euros comes on the 60^th anniversary of the country's first-ever title in the much-followed competition – and has broken numerous records, too.

The party has barely finished for La Roja – their triumphant return from Germany after Sunday's late-night victory was followed by a huge open-air concert in Madrid's Plaza Cibeles, which is, at every other time, a busy traffic island but which, on Monday, featured a star-studded line-up of national music chart-topping artists; then, later that day, the entire team met King Felipe VI at the monarch's main residence in Madrid, the Zarzuela Palace.

Naturally, they had already met HRH Felipe immediately after the match, since the King was watching with the youngest of his two daughters, the Infanta Sofía, 17.

Sofía, who wore red trousers in support of her national team – although her white shirt may have been a nod to England, given that she is currently living in the UK whilst studying at sixth-form college in Wales – looked visibly nervous as the score levelled up before Oyarzábal took it to 2-1 in the 86^th minute.

Most Euro victories and most consecutive match wins in history

Oyarzábal and his team-mate Nico Williams, whose goals took the cup home to Spain for the fourth time in history, made La Roja the highest-scoring team in the entire trajectory of the Euros: With 15 goals in this year's tournament and only four against in seven matches, Spain has now broken the uninterrupted record held by France who, under Platini in 1984, notched up a total of 14 in five matches to clinch the trophy.

Until now, Spain had been level-pegging with Germany for the most UEFA Euro tournaments won – with three each – but La Roja is now officially in the lead with four titles.

Even though the baby-boomer generation is the youngest to remember Spain's first victory in 1964 – at a time when home television was an extremely rare commodity and most would have followed the matches by radio – no Spaniard born in the 20^th century will ever forget La Roja's 'World Cup sandwich': Their hat-trick of two consecutive Euros in 2008 and 2012 with the 2010 World Cup in between went down in sporting history.

But for fans of every nationality, the writing was on the wall ahead of Sunday's match, despite the huge leaps forward England has made in recent years under Gareth Southgate: Every time Spain's men's – or women's - team has reached a final, it has won.

For the past decade, La Roja has barely made it past a quarter-final, but before Sunday, the team had qualified for, and won, 22 finals, meaning fans were fairly confident that the 23^rd would end the same way.

And in the 2024 tournament, Spain did not lose a single match, giving it a new record of seven consecutive victories – against Croatia, Italy, Albania, Georgia, Germany, France, and then England – breaking that held by France since 1984 when Platini's squad won five consecutive matches, albeit at a time when only eight countries were involved in the competition.

Rising stars and seasoned veterans

In total, 10 players scored goals for Spain during the 2024 Euros – Álvaro Morata, Dani Carvajal, Ferrán Torres, Rodri, Merino, Oyarzábal and Lamine Yamal with one each, Dani Olmo with three, and Fabián and Nico Williams each scoring twice.

Nico Williams' name is currently being tossed around by élite teams across the continent, but the 22-year-old reportedly told his parents and agent that he 'did not want to know' about any offers or speculation until after the Euros, fearing he would become distracted.

Williams parents, originally from Ghana, travelled across the Sahara desert on foot in 1994 in a bid to reach Europe and a better life, climbing the border fence into Spain's northern-African city of Melilla and being immediately arrested.

An anonymous lawyer advised them to tell border authorities they had come from a war-torn country, so they pretended they were from Liberia, enabling them to claim asylum.

Nico's mum was pregnant at the time with his elder brother Iñaki – named after a parish priest in the Basque Country who helped the couple find jobs and a home - and who now plays for Ghana's national team.

Yet another record broken on Sunday involved Jesús Navas who, at 38 years and 236 days, became the oldest player to win the Euros.

The Sevilla legend, the only player still on the team from the 2010 World Cup win in South Africa, now also holds the record for the most titles won for Spain, having played in the 2012 and 2024 Euros and the 2023 Nations' League, giving him four international victories.

Arguably one of Spain's greatest rising stars and winner of Best Young Player after Sunday's final, Lamine Yamal has smashed a series of records on his own – despite not even being old enough to vote.

Having started playing football aged three and talent-scouted at age six, Yamal was signed up for FC Barcelona's mainstream team at 15, and has become the youngest-ever player to win a Euros.

His 17^th birthday was on Saturday, the day before the final – by which time he had already become the youngest player ever to score in a Euros match, through his goal against France in the semi-finals at age 16 and 362 days.

The son of a Moroccan painter-decorator and a waitress from the former Spanish colony of Equatorial Guinea, Yamal was younger than Brazilian legend Pelé when he scored the winning World Cup goal at age 17 years and 249 days.

To put it into perspective, Yamal was the only player for Spain who would not legally be able to celebrate his team's victory with an alcoholic drink, and was sitting his ESO, or compulsory high-school exams, between matches.

Labour laws for under-18s create unique 'issue' for Yamal

An unprecedented legal loophole arose for Spain ahead of the final as a result of German labour laws: Under-18s are not allowed to work beyond 20.00 at night, other than those in élite sports, who are not permitted to work after 23.00.

As a result, speculation was rife that, should the match run into extra time and then to penalties, manager Luis de la Fuente may have to field a substitute for Yamal – although it seemed more likely the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) would simply pay the €30,000 fine.

Fortunately for Yamal as a player, the match ended in victory with just seven minutes to spare before 23.00 – although 'working hours' would also cover time spent in the changing rooms, talking to reporters, and even posing for photographs with his team after collecting the cup.

German newspaper ZDF revealed there were no known cases of this type of fine at the sharp end of sports, and Spanish sports magazine Marca said that no warnings or notifications of potential labour law breaches were given by German authorities to UEFA, meaning it would seem unlikely that a fine would apply.

Spanish sport enters another golden era

Half a generation ago, along with La Roja, some of the top sporting names on earth were Spanish: Fernando Alonso, Rafa Nadal, Marc Márquez, the late Seve Ballesteros, badminton ace Carolina Marín, Wimbledon winner Garbiñe Muguruza, and super-swimmer Mireia Belmonte have been hogging headlines throughout the 20^th century.

And it looks as though the country may be heading for another sports renaissance.

When the women's national football team won the 2023 FIFA World Cup, it was only the second time in history that Spain had clinched the title, after the men's side did so in 2010.

Less than a year later, and in the same week, men's football took home a fourth Euro victory for Spain just as the country's newest tennis ace swept the board at Wimbledon.

Carlos Alcaraz, tipped to be the 'next Rafa Nadal', accepted the trophy from Princess Catherine in what has been only her second public appearance this year as she undergoes gruelling treatment for cancer – and in a moment of déjà vu for both.

Not only is this Alcaraz's second consecutive Wimbledon win – having clinched the 2023 title - but he has achieved the rare feat of netting this and the Roland Garros French Open in the same year.

Only three years earlier, Spain's Ane Mintegi won the Junior tournament at Wimbledon, just four years after Garbiñe Muguruza took the women's title at the All England Club, in 2017.

Garbiñe's epic victory over legendary Venus Williams led to Spain's having both a male and a female world number one in tennis at the same time, with Rafa Nadal returning to the top spot alongside his compatriot.

Spanish sportsmen and sportswomen are hoping to do their country proud on the world stage later this summer at the Paris Olympics and Paralympics.