SPAIN (2021)- Soccer Team Centenary Sheet

As well as being one of the best in the world, the Spanish national football team is also one of the oldest.

It played its first game in 1920, seven years after the Federation was founded. This was during the Brussels Olympic Games, where the team finished a well-deserved second and took the silver medal.

After a promising start, in 1933 the Spanish national team achieved one of biggest victories in the country's history, beating Bulgaria by a crushing score of 13-1.

After periods of ups and downs - when figures such as the goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora made their mark - Spain won its first European Championship in 1964.

The final was in Madrid against the USSR and the giant Yashin. Marcelino Martínez scored the winning goal six minutes from time, with Spain being declared champions.

Spain hosted the World Cup in 1982. This was the first time that the World Cup had featured 24 teams. Spain got through to the second round but the team was knocked out after losing 2-1 to Germany, and drawing 0-0 with England.

After winning gold at the 1992 Olympics, Spain embarked on the contemporary golden period.

In 2008, Spain won its second European championship, managed by Luis Aragonés. And this would not be the last time, as it won it again in 2012.

But two years before this, in 2010, Spain lifted the biggest trophy in its history - the World Cup, in South Africa. This cup is the star in the mini sheet Correos is dedicating to the national team's centenary. The stamp is presented with a chalcography engraving of the badge of “la Roja” –“the Reds”, as the national team is affectionately known– which is reproduced in red in the artist's proof that accompanies the issue.