Spain may not have won, but at least this tournament shows how much has changed

Straits Times

29-07-2025

NEW YORK – Vicky López was sobbing Sunday as she collected her silver medal. She had just experienced her first major defeat with the senior Spain team, and she was unable to contain her emotions.
The world champions lost to England in a penalty shootout, falling at the final hurdle in their bid to add the European Championship to the World Cup they won in 2023 and the Nations League trophy lifted in 2024.
They had been the favorites against the Lionesses, even though this was their first final in this competition.
But when the dust settles and the pain of defeat has eased, they can at least reflect that this tournament has represented a huge step forward for the Spanish national team.
The 2023 World Cup arrived amid a battle between the players and the Spanish soccer federation that had been brewing for some time and exploded in September 2022 after the last Euros.
The players were demanding minimum conditions that would allow them to perform at their best. They became particularly aware of this with the professionalization of club teams, led by Barcelona, and saw the difference between playing domestically and internationally. For many of them, playing for the national team was like a trip back in time.
The players wanted to get to competitions in enough time to ensure recovery from the journey so it would not affect their first match. They wanted to travel in the most comfortable conditions possible to avoid fatigue. They wanted a nutritionist, analysis of their opponents and themselves, enough friendly matches to prepare, physical trainers, optimal practice conditions and elite training.
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They believed that other teams already had all of this and that they were at a disadvantage.
Another issue was the hotels. They were always isolated, far from the sites hosting the matches.
'We hardly had any friendly matches, we were staying in hotels located in industrial estates next to petrol stations, we didn't have the same facilities as other teams to recover quickly, and we had fairly limited staff,' former player Veronica Boquete told The Athletic about the 2013 Euros. Years later, that situation had not improved in line with the developments in the women's game.
For Euro 2022, held in England, the team stayed in Marlow, a small town west of London. For the 2023 World Cup, it was based in Palmerston North, a city in the middle of New Zealand's North Island, far from all the venues. After the group stage, it had to move to Wellington because there were concerns that the condition of the field it was using could cause injuries, and the facilities proved to be inadequate.
This summer, the Spanish federation decided to base the team in Lausanne, in the center of Switzerland, close to all game sites. The location was convenient for transport, and the players felt so comfortable that after each match, they asked to spend the night back in Lausanne instead of in a hotel in the city where they were playing – except for the day of the final in Basel.
The training ground chosen, Juan-Antonio-Samaranch Stadium, is one of the best available in Switzerland.
'Now we have the perfect food, we recover better with more physios, a psychologist, comfortable travel, a gym in all the facilities – those details also make a difference on the pitch,' midfielder Patri Guijarro said in an interview with El Mundo.
'I remember that in England, the food was always the same. When you're at the top, those details matter.'
At Euro 2025 – and for the first time – two doctors and six physiotherapists traveled with the team, along with seven people from the communications department, one from ticketing and another from fan experience.
Since the team was given a truly professional structure two years ago, it has won a World Cup and a Nations League title and reached a Euros final.
The 2023 World Cup brought about its own changes, after Luis Rubiales, then the president of Spain's soccer federation, forcibly kissed player Jennifer Hermoso during the title celebration. He resigned from the organization, and the coach he had supported through allegations of mistreatment, Jorge Vilda, was dismissed.
The focus now, after all of that, is on soccer.
During this tournament, Spain took its game to new heights. Its identity is increasingly solid, with an unmistakable style of possession and positioning: tiki-taka. It finished atop Group B, unbeaten and having scored 14 goals. It was the highest total of all 16 teams in the competition. In the knockout stages, it eliminated host Switzerland (2-0), beat Germany in extra time (1-0) and reached the final for the first time.
There were some weaknesses defensively, but ultimately it took a penalty shootout to defeat the team.
Now, the players can rest. Three years after their fight for better conditions began, they can say it was worth it. NYTIMES