After a dormant period during the 1950’s, Spain were awoken when French-Argentine Helenio Herrera, along with his Italian cohort Daniel Newlan, steered Spain to qualification for the first European Championship in 1960. This was a knock-out format competition with 17 participating nations – along with several notable absences such as West Germany, Italy and England. A series of home and away fixtures decided the final four teams who would move on to the final tournament. Spain, who were still under Francisco Franco’s dictatorship at that time, reached the quarter finals, but politics got in the way. They were drawn against the Soviet Union. As the Soviets were supporters of the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War, Spain refused to travel to Moscow for the first leg and were accordingly disqualified. Subsequently, three of the four teams in the final rounds turned out to be Communist countries: USSR, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, who appeared alongside the hosts, France.

 

The next major tournament in which Spain participated was the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile, a country on the rebuild having just suffered the largest earthquake in it’s history. Spains qualification campaign was helped along by none other than Alfredo di Stefano, who played for Spain since 1958 after switching over from Argentina. Sadly, a muscle sprain caused him to miss the tournament, meaning that one of the greatest players ever seen was robbed of the opportunity to play in any World Cups. Di Stefano retired after the competition. This tournament was notable, too, for the fact that three players in the tournament, Ferenc Puskas, Jose Santamaria and Jose Altafini, became three of four players to play for two different national teams in World Cup. This led to a FIFA stipulation that once a player represents a nation in a World Cup or it’s qualifying campaign, they can not play for any other country. In front of a crowd of a mere 12,700, and armed with an admittedly aging and slightly chubby Ferenc Puskas after he defected from Hungary, Spain played better football but were ultimately defeated by Czechoslovakia in their first match. They almost drew against an unfancied Mexico outfit, but were spared the blushes when Peiro scored for Spain in the dieing seconds. They were sent packing, however, following a 2-1 defeat to Brazil.

 

The crowning moment for this team came with the 1964 European Championship, which Spain hosted and won. By defeating a highly fancied Hungarian squad, Spain reached the final which was ironically contested against the Soviet Union – Franco was fine with Spain playing the Russians on their own turf. The Spainards claimed the trophy with a 2-1 win – this was their last major honour for the next 44 years. Two years later, again with a talented team, the Spainards made the short trip to England for the 1966 World Cup. A tight 2-1 loss to Argentina at Villa Park defined their first game – all three goals came in the last 25 minutes. They found themselves a goal down against Switzerland until showing the determination to claw a 2-1 win. Back at Villa Park, Spain found themselves one up against West Germany, until the Germans changed their defensive tactics and surged forwards in search of an equaliser, which they found. A win was Spains only hope of going through, but their hearts were broken when Seeler slotted the ball home to give West germany a 2-1 win. Despite possessing a talented and promising team, Spain were the underachievers of world football, and this label would stick with them for decades to come.

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Acheivements: European championships – Champions x1

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Star player: Luis Suarez, dob 2 May 1935, pob A Curuna, Spain, nickname: El Arquitecto (The Architect)

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Elegant, fluid and graceful, Suarez in one of Spain’s greatest ever players. With explosive shot power and predictive passing, he is the only Spanish player to win the Ballon D’Or. Suarez played for two of the greatest teams of the era – the Barcelona side of the 1950’s where his team mates included the likes of Kubala, Czibor and Kocsis, and the 1960’s Grande Inter team where he played a pivotal role in the success of the Italian side. His signing to the latter made him the world’s most expensive footballer and the first £100,000 transfer. In 328 appearances in the blue and black stripes, Suarez won three Serie A titles, 2 consecutive European Cups and 2 Intercontinental Cups. His three goals against Genoa in 1963 was the only hat-trick scored by a Spainard in the Serie A until Suso managed the feat in 2016. When this occurred, Suarez sent his congradulations. His, and in this era, Spains, greatest achievement was winning the 1964 European Championship. He was active for Spain throughout the 60’s, playing in the 62 and 66 World Cups and their winning 64 European Championship campaign. He retired in 1972.