Staff Reporter
Barely anyone outside of Spain had La Roja among their favourites to win the 2024 UEFA European Championship before the start of the tournament. Luis de la Fuente and his squad entered history, though, claiming a record third Euros title for the national team by winning all seven matches at the tournament.
It might be premature to predict Spain as the winner of the next international tournament, the 2024/25 Nations League, because of the unpredictability of the competition. Still, the £5 deposit betting sites can offer the chance to benefit from such an outcome while assuming a lower risk, especially since Spain’s victory in League A is currently offered at fairly high odds of 6.00.
Although the Nations League does not compare in terms of importance and excitement to such international tournaments as the Euros or the World Cup, the upcoming campaign will be important for La Roja for a number of reasons.
Chance for a Trophy
The prestige of the UEFA Nations League is still rather low. This should not be a surprise because it is a new competition, and was originally meant to replace the friendly matches during the much-hated international breaks.
Nevertheless, it is recognised as an official trophy by UEFA and FIFA, which should serve as a motivation for the players. Besides, history is written by the winners, and the prestige of a tournament can be increased by the team which wins it. It legitimises the trophy and makes it desirable for those national teams that would like to dethrone the current champions of Europe.
It Is About Writing History
There have been three editions of the UEFA Nations League so far, and the winners were Portugal, France and Spain. This means that no national team has won the trophy twice.
If Luis de la Fuente leads La Roja to the title again, it would make Spain the first team to win the UEFA Nations League twice. Additionally, they’d be the first to do so twice in a row.
And it would also mean winning the Euros and the UEFA Nations League back-to-back, another feat that has been impossible up until now.
Experiment Ahead of World Cup
Spain have been placed in Group A4 with Denmark, Switzerland and Serbia. With all due respect to these sides, the European champions should have no problems making it to the play-offs.
Still, De la Fuente may take advantage of these matches to try out new things ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. After all, starters like Alvaro Morata and Dani Carvajal may not be at the same level in two years, and there will be a need for replacements. Besides, there are youngsters like Pau Cubarsi or Bryan Zaragoza, who have a great future ahead of them but who were not part of the Euros winning squad due to the high competition. They will need to be slowly integrated into the team too.
FIFA World Cup Plan B
There is a new FIFA World Cup qualification format in Europe which may complicate things for teams like Spain. Starting with the next edition, only winners of each qualifying group will advance directly to the final tournament.
However, by winning the respective Nations League group, La Roja can guarantee themselves a spot in the qualification play-offs if they fail to advance otherwise.
Keep Up the Form
After their triumphant performance at the 2024 UEFA Euros, the next goal for Spain should be the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In-between these major events, the Spanish players will need to continue building chemistry, working on new attacking and defensive mechanisms, and keep up the form.
Thanks to their competitive nature, the matches at the UEFA Nations League will allow Luis de la Fuente’s team to do exactly this. It takes a long time to build a solid national team that can keep up with the physicality of the South American sides, especially in the case of such a young squad as Spain’s.
