MADRID — Spain’s World Cupwinning soccer team is ready to return residence on Monday, the place the 26-man squad shall be greeted by Spanish royalty and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez earlier than boarding an open-top bus for a parade by way of central Madrid.
Throngs of followers will greet them as they journey from close to Moncloa Palace, the prime minister’s official residence, to Cibeles Sq..
A ceremony with the gamers will then be held on the sq., the place earlier Spanish nationwide groups and their supporters have historically gathered to have a good time.
Spain walked off with the trophy at Sunday’s closing after defeating now-dethroned champion Argentina 1-0 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It was solely the second time — after a 2010 victory in South Africa — that Spain received the title.
The Spanish capital erupted into celebrations after the ultimate whistle, with 1000’s of supporters pouring into the streets from bars and eating places, many draped in Spanish flags or sporting the workforce’s colours.
Crowds packed Madrid’s Puerta de Sol and different main squares — singing, dancing and setting off flares whereas automotive horns blared all through the capital.
Many celebrated Sunday’s victory lengthy into the wee hours of Monday morning.
“I’m very comfortable. I’ve slept three or 4 hours, however for the workforce, I’ll do no matter it takes,” mentioned 19 year-old Victor Álvarez early Monday.
The World Cup title, mixed with the Ladies’s World Cup received by Spain in 2023, makes the European nation the primary to carry each the lads’s and ladies’s titles concurrently.
Celebrations had been dampened, nevertheless, after native authorities reported {that a} 13-year previous in Salamanca, northwest of Madrid, had died after a fountain he had climbed onto with buddies to have a good time had collapsed.
For a lot of younger Spanish supporters, the triumph is their first time witnessing the lads’s workforce carry the trophy — and the nationwide delirium that has adopted.
Forward of the workforce’s return, supporters waited in Madrid’s Barajas airport able to greet them in an arrivals corridor, many donning the workforce’s jerseys and waving Spanish flags.
Teams of supporters additionally started securing their spots close to Cibeles Sq. late Monday morning, bringing umbrellas to guard in opposition to the solar and temperatures which are anticipated to climb to 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit).
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