Education, Barcelona & Basque culture - why Spain are dominating football

Lamine Yamal is just one of Barcelona's academy products playing for Spain

World champions. European champions. Olympic champions. Undefeated in two and a half years. Spain are the dominant force in men's world football.

Going into Saturday's Nations League meeting with England at Wembley (19:45 BST), they are on an international record 38-match unbeaten run. They have not lost since a 1-0 defeat by Colombia in a 2024 friendly.

At club level, Spanish teams have won half of all available Champions League and Europa League titles since 2009.

"The first one was university, and in particular something called the National Institute of Physical Education," he said. "University entered physical education in Spain a long time ago, in the 1990s, and they created physical coaches and football coaches with a deep understanding of learning and training processes.

"The second pillar is the Basque culture. The Basque Country represents historically a special reference within Spanish football because they relate to work ethic, massive work ethic, daily effort.

'We had a date with history and we got there first' - Spain react to World Cup win

Eight players from Barcelona's La Masia academy were in the Spain squad who won the 2010 World Cup under Vicente del Bosque, and another eight were in Luis de la Fuente's group as they lifted the trophy again this summer.

That was a period where Barcelona won three consecutive La Liga titles, while Spain won back-to-back European Championships in 2008 and 2012 either side of their 2010 World Cup triumph.

Jordi Gratacos, Barcelona's international director of academies from 2009 to 2011, and then from 2016 to 2020, told BBC Radio 5 Live: "The number one thing is to understand the tactical meaning of the technical action. What I mean is to create intelligent players [who are] very good in technical aspects.

"The main objective is to prepare the players to take the position. It's an open education when you create some scenarios, context and ecosystem where the player needs to decide, and the coach needs also to say: 'This was the best option - next time, take the other option.'

In his first two seasons as Barcelona manager, Hansi Flick repeated what Guardiola did - and not only in the sense of winning two La Liga titles in a row.