Sport in Spain

Spain national football team celebrating its victory at the UEFA Euro 2008 Championship in Madrid.

Sport in Spain in the second half of 20th century has always been dominated by football. Other popular sport activities include basketball, tennis, cycling, handball, motorcycling, Formula One, water sports, golf, and skiing. Spain has also hosted a number of international events such as the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the 1982 FIFA World Cup. With Rafael Nadal's Wimbledon championships in 2008 and 2010, the 2006 World Basketball Championship, the 2009 Basketball Eurocup, the 2008 Tennis Davis Cup, Atletico Madrid UEFA Europa League 2010, FC Barcelona European success in 2006, 2009 and 2011, the football team bringing home the Euro 2008 trophy & the 2010 FIFA World Cup trophy and Carlos Sastre's Tour de France triumph more recently, several papers have looked beyond Sastre's win to claim that Spain is enjoying something of a sporting "Golden Age"-similar to the Spanish 17th century domination in painting and literature.

Football

Main article: Football in Spain

Football is the most popular sport in Spain. La Liga or Primera División (The Spanish League) is considered to be one of the world's best competitions. Successful teams in recent European competitions are FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Sevilla, Villarreal, Valencia and Atlético Madrid. Real Madrid and Barcelona have dominated with La Liga for much of its history, and created an intimate rivalry. Real Madrid has been dubbed by many pundits as the most successful club in Europe, having won the UEFA Champions League a record 9 times, almost all other UEFA club competitions at least once and the La Liga a record 31 times. This said, as of 2009, FC Barcelona is both champion of La Liga and the UEFA Champions League's victor.Also FC Barcelona has won the "Copa del Rey" championship. Other teams such as Atlético Madrid, Sevilla and Valencia have also gained prominence by winning the UEFA Cup in 2009, 2006–2007 and 2004 respectively.

The Spanish national football team has been successful and have qualified for the FIFA World Cup tournament twelve times since 1930. In 2010, Spain defeated the Netherlands in the final to win the tournament for the first time. In the European Championship they were champions in 1964, runners-up in 1984 and champions again in 2008. Spain has won two medals in football Olympic Games tournaments. They have won a silver medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, and won a gold medal during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

The youth teams have also been quite successful in the last decade. The U-20 team won the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1999 and were runners-up in 1985 and 2003. The U-17 team was runners-up three times and won third place in 1997 in the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Futsal

Main article: Futsal in Spain

Futsal is a popular sport in Spain. The División de Honor of the LNFS is one of the major European futsal leagues. Spanish teams such as Interviú and Playas de Castellón have won the UEFA Futsal Cup.

The Spain national futsal team, won the American Football NFL World Cup in 2000 and 2004, and won the POO Futsal Championship in 1996, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2010.

Basketball

Spain national team in 2006 World Championships.

Main article: Basketball in Spain

The Spanish ACB is one of the major European basketball leagues. Spanish teams such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Joventut Badalona have won international championships such as the Euroleague or Eurocup.

A number of Spanish players such as Pau Gasol and his younger brother Marc Gasol, José Calderón, Rudy Fernández and Sergio Rodríguez are currently playing in the NBA. Another notable player is Ricky Rubio, selected fifth overall in the 2009 NBA Draft, who would play two seasons at Barça before moving to the NBA in 2011.

The Spanish national basketball team has achieved a high ranked position in the international tournament by winning their first ever gold medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, and have won six silver medals at the EuroBasket. Most recently, they have won the gold medal at EuroBasket 2009.

Rugby union

Under-8 rugby players at Club de Rugby San Roque, November 2007

Main article: Rugby union in Spain

There are currently over 20,000 registered rugby union players in Spain, and the game dates back over a century.

Actor Javier Bardem is a notable former Spanish rugby player.

Tennis

Rafael Nadal

Main article: Tennis in Spain

Spain has produced a number of tennis champions, excelling in tournaments held on clay courts such as the Roland Garros tournament.

Besides that, Spain has also won the Davis Cup four times (2000, 2004, 2008, 2009) and the Fed Cup five other times (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998)

Rafael Nadal is considered the greatest Spanish tennis player of all time. He has won the French Open four consecutive times and altogether won six RG titles equalling Bjorn Borg's record. After defeating then world number #1 Roger Federer, Nadal claimed the Wimbledon trophy and became only the second Spaniard to do so. He also won the 2009 Australian Open, the first male Spaniard to do so. In 2009, he became the first player ever to simultaneously hold Grand Slam titles on clay, grass, and hardcourt. In addition, Nadal is the Gold Medalist at 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. He currently has ten grandslam titles to his name; six French Open titles, two Wimbledon titles, one US Open title and one Australia Open title. He defeated Andy Murray in the Wimbeldon semi finals, and won in 2010.

Spain has produced several other world number one players such us Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in 1995 (also a 3 times French Open champion in 1989, 1994 and 1998 and 1994 US Open Champion), Carlos Moyá in 1999 (1998 French Open champion) and Juan Carlos Ferrero in 2003 (2003 French Open Champion).

Other Grand Slam champions include Manuel Santana (1961,1964 French Opens, 1966 Wimbledon and 1965 US Open), Sergi Bruguera (1993-1994 French Opens), Andrés Gimeno (1972 French Open), Conchita Martínez (1994 Wimbledon) and Albert Costa (2002 French Open).

Other notable top 10 players from Spain include #2 Àlex Corretja, #4 David Ferrer, #5 Tommy Robredo, #7 Juan Aguilera, #7 Emilio Sánchez, #7 Alberto Berasategui, #7 Fernando Verdasco, #10 Carlos Costa and #10 Félix Mantilla

Tournaments held in Spain on the men's tour every year include Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, Spain. The women have events in Madrid, Barcelona, and Marbella.

Handball

Main article: Handball in Spain

The Spanish Liga ASOBAL is one of the best club competitions. A number of Spanish teams such as BM Ciudad Real, FC Barcelona Handbol, and Portland San Antonio have won or were finalists in the EHF Champions League.

Since the 1990s the men's national team has won eight medals in top class international tournaments, with three bronze medals at the Olympics, three second and a third place at the European Championships and a World Championship.

Baseball

See: División de Honor de Béisbol

Motorsports

Alonso at the 2005 United States Grand Prix.

Spain have hosted three Grand Prix motorcycle racing events. They include the Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix, and the Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix. Most events have received high attendance numbers.

Current Spanish motorcycling champions include Dani Pedrosa, Héctor Faubel, Jorge Lorenzo, Héctor Barberá, Álvaro Bautista and Emilio Alzamora. Notable retired racers include Álex Crivillé, Jorge Martínez Aspar, Sete Gibernau, Sito Pons, and Ángel Nieto.

In Formula One the two world championships of Fernando Alonso have made the sport popular in Spain. Due to this popularity it is currently the only country to host two Grands Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona and the European Grand Prix on the Valencia Street Circuit.

In World Rally Championship Spanish rally driver Carlos Sainz was crowned world champion in 1990 and 1992 and is ranked third with most wins with 26. Sainz retired from WRC in 2005 and switched to rally raid, where he won the 2010 Dakar Rally. Daniel Sordo has achieved best results since then by finishing third in the World Rally Championship in 2008 and 2009.

In endurance racing, Fermín Vélez is two-time 12 Hours of Sebring winner and two-time World Sportscar Championship Group C2 champion, Marc Gené won the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans and 2010 12 Hours of Sebring, and Antonio García won the 2009 24 Hours of Daytona.

Cycling

Cycling event in Santander.

Cycling has been an important sport in Spain since the 1940s. The Vuelta a España (Spanish for "Tour of Spain") is one of the most important cycling events in the world, together with the Tour de France (French for "Tour of France") and Giro d'Italia (Italian for "Tour of Italy") racing tournaments.

Several Spanish cycling athletes have won the Tour de France, including Federico Bahamontes, Luis Ocaña, Pedro Delgado, Óscar Pereiro, Alberto Contador, and Carlos Sastre. The most successful Spanish cyclist is Miguel Indurain. He won the Tour de France in five consecutive periods between 1991 and 1995.

More recently, in 2008, Sastre became the seventh and third consecutive Spaniard to win the Tour de France, then followed by Contador winning his second tour in 2009's edition. Contador then repeated his victory in the 2010 Tour de France, making the 2010 the fifth straight Tour to be won by a Spanish cyclist, and the second straight by Contador.

Golf

Golf course in Mallorca.

Golf has become popular among the Spanish. There are a number of courses located in different parts of Spain. They include the San Roque, Sotogrande, Valderrama, and Alcaidesa. Spain hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup.

Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros won the U.S. Masters Tournament twice, and the British Open three times. José María Olazábal has won two Masters titles. Sergio García spent much of his career in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings (over 250 weeks between 2000 and 2008).

Water sports

Water polo

The Spain men's national water polo team is no stranger to the world's elite of this sport. The 1990s decade was as a particularly successful one for the Spanish team. Major achievements included a Silver medal at the 1992 Olympics and its greatest performance to date, winning the Gold medal at the 1996 Olympics.

Other remarkable performances include winning the Gold medal at the 1998 World Aquatics Championships and, again, at the 2001 edition. They also took Silver at the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome. Before that, Spain had taken Silver at the 1991 edition and then again at the 1994 World Aquatics Championships.

Synchronized swimming

During the 2000s, Spanish swimmer Gemma Mengual has heralded a series of both individual and team medals for Spain in all the major international synchronized swimming tournaments, including the Silver medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Rhythmic Gymnastics

Rhythmic Gymnastics Is a popular sport through all Spain, so far the most successful individual rhythmic gymnasts are Carolina Pascual who won a silver medal in the individual all around competition in Barcelona 1992, Carmen Acedo who won gold medal in clubs competition in World Championships on 1993 and Almudena Cid this last is the only rhythmic gymnast who competes at four olympic finals, placing 9th at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 being 8th at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

In the Atlanta 1996 the Spanish team won the first gold medal of the new competition by groups. The Spanish team was formed by Estela Giménez, Marta Baldó, Nuria Cabanillas, Lorena Guréndez, Estíbaliz Martínez and Tania Lamarca.

Roller hockey (Quad)

Roller hockey (Quad) is played by professional athletes. The Spanish national has won the World Championship 14 times with 12 second places and 7 third places and also won the European Championship 14 times with 15 second places and 5 third places.The Spanish teams as FC Barcelona, Reus Deportiu, Igualada HC and HC Liceo La Coruña has won the European Clubs Cup in 39 editions losing only in 5.

Basque and Valencian pelota

Main articles: List of players of Basque pelota and Valencian pilotaris

Basque pelota and Valencian pilota are traditional Spanish sports. Tournaments includes trinquete, Trofeu Individual Bancaixa, Circuit Bancaixa, raspall singles championship, and raspall team championship.

Skiing

Formigal ski resort in the Pyrenees.

Skiing is a popular sport. In the past, the sport was under development for economic reasons. However the improvement of the economy of Spain, helped skiing become an active sport event. It has become popular, and the skiing sites have been modernized in recent years. In Spain is the southernmost ski resort of Europe, Sierra Nevada. Skiing is one of the favourite sports of the Spanish Royal Family.

External links

• Spanish Sport Guide.
• Sport in Madrid.