How Spain's Men's And Women's National Teams Rose Above The Rest Of The World

NEW YORK — Spain has the chance to accomplish something no nation has ever achieved.

If it defeats defending champion Argentina in Sunday’s World Cup final, both its men’s and women’s national teams will simultaneously hold the sport’s biggest trophy.

Germany's men and women have each won two World Cups, but never concurrently. Similar feats have happened in other sports, including UConn’s men’s and women’s basketball teams winning national championships in 2004 and 2014, USA Basketball's men and women taking gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics and the American men's and women's hockey teams winning gold at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics.

Now Spain — with the women’s side winning its first World Cup title in 2023 — has a chance to set a new standard for sustained dominance on soccer’s biggest stage.

Spain celebrating after winning the 2023 World Cup. (Photo by Li Yibo/Xinhua via Getty Images)

So how did Spain get here? What has allowed it to separate itself from the rest of the world? What is it doing better than everyone else? 

"This is the only country that starts a philosophy and an identity at a young age, and they’re all doing the same things from 9 years old and up, both the men’s and women’s side," U.S. women’s national team legend Carli Lloyd told me. Now a FOX Sports analyst, Lloyd played against Spain during her career and has watched firsthand how the program evolved into a powerhouse.

"They focus on technical excellence first and their positional play, short passing, patience, development — all those different things. And I think for a number of years, they weren’t incredibly successful but have figured out ways of going about that with the way they play."

The World Cup is only part of the story. Spain's