Spain found its champions on Monday who made it vibrate so much after their victory against Argentina (1-0) at the 2026 World Cup: the players landed in Madrid with their trophy which they will proudly display all afternoon during their meetings with the king, the Prime Minister and especially their supporters, who should be very numerous and excited.
Arriving from the United States aboard a plane from the national airline Iberia, decorated with a small flag flying just above the cockpit, the players got off the plane shortly after 2:30 p.m. local time.
The first to come out were coach Luis de la Fuente, captain Rodrigo Hernandez (Rodri) in La Roja jersey and shorts, medal around his neck and holding the golden trophy in his hands, as well as the president of the federation Rafael Louzán, noted an AFP journalist.
After their lunch in an undisclosed location, the players will be received around 5:30 p.m. by King Felipe VI at the Zarzuela Palace, in the suburbs of Madrid, before seeing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the seat of government, the Moncloa Palace, at 6 p.m.
From there, the heroes of the day will begin their parade aboard a double-decker bus along the main arteries of the center to arrive at the square of the famous Cibeles fountain, seat of Madrid’s town hall, where they are expected around 9 p.m., in an atmosphere that promises to be lively.
A ceremony is to be organized there on a stage specially set up to celebrate the players, including star Lamine Yamal and the only scorer in the final, Ferran Torres, as well as coach Luis de la Fuente.
Around a million people are expected in the streets of the capital, according to estimates by its prefect Francisco Martin, who specified on Sunday that 2,050 police officers and 400 Civil Guard agents would be mobilized for the occasion.
“It deserves a party!”
Some supporters, drunk with happiness after a (very) short night, plan to do it again, like Bruno González del Yerro, a 32-year-old financier, interviewed by AFP: “We will have to celebrate it in one way or another, since it only happens every four years! (…) It deserves a celebration!”
After a long night of fiesta, Tomas Hernanz, an 18-year-old high school student, carries the red and yellow flag of Spain tied on his shoulders. With his friend Martin Peña, he intends to “spend the whole day in Madrid while waiting for the players to arrive”, because “it’s something we want to experience now, and we won’t regret it”.
“As soon as I can, I will go and welcome our champions,” promises José Márquez, a 37-year-old soldier who tries as best he can to hide his fatigue: “I went to bed at 2 a.m., I didn’t sleep much but it was worth it.”
From the final whistle late on Sunday evening, all of Spain exulted with joy after this coronation celebrated during a night of madness and jubilation, an evening however mourned by the death of a 13-year-old teenager in Ciudad Rodrigo, in the west of the country, after the collapse of a fountain on which several supporters had climbed.
This new global title resonates particularly in this football-loving country where the sport unites its 50 million inhabitants, part of whose young generation had not experienced the first coronation of the “Selección” at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Hero of a nation
It is as a hero of a nation that the players will be welcomed in the coming hours.
As for the Argentinians, very little in sight during the final like their magician Lionel Messi, ghostly, they will be welcomed at Buenos Aires airport at 5 p.m. local time (8 p.m. GMT) by hundreds of thousands, perhaps more, of sad but proud supporters.
In Madrid, tears will also flow on Monday evening, but with joy, during the historic parade just two years after winning Euro-2024 in Germany.
