New Delhi: Spain’s 2-0 victory over France on Tuesday night at the FIFA World Cup ensured that La Roja not only go to just the second final in their history, but also equal the all-time unbeaten record by a European nation in international football — 37 matches.
The commanding victory over Les Bleus has underlined Spain’s credentials for becoming world champions for a second time in their history. The French national team were completely shut out for large parts of the game, with their talismanic striker Kylian Mbappe unable to click into any gear during the 90 minutes.
The victory has allowed Spain to continue their unbeaten streak to 37. However, OptaJoe, the British analytics company, does not count La Roja’s penalty loss to Portugal in the 2025 UEFA Nations League final as a part of the streak.
Only one other European country has a streak that has lasted this long – Italy, which remained unbeaten between October 2018 and October 2021, with 30 wins and seven draws. The Italian streak included its victory at the 2021 UEFA Euro championships.
Italy’s success on the football field in the last half-decade has been subpar, with the former four-time world champions not appearing at a FIFA World Cup since the 2014 edition. For Spain, the current European champions and winners of the 2023 Nations League, a victory at the finals of the World Cup will make them the longest unbeaten European team, according to Opta.
Spain’s victory over France also allowed them to go past Argentina’s own record of 36 unbeaten matches between 2 July 2019 and 22 November 2022. Spain’s previous longest unbeaten streak was between 2007 and 2009, when La Roja went 35 games without a defeat. During that streak, the Spanish team also won the 2008 UEFA Euro championships.
That team eventually were crowned world champions in 2010 in South Africa. The current streak began with a 3-3 draw with Brazil in March 2024. Since then, Spain went on to win the Euro championships in 2024, participate in another edition of the Nations League, qualify for the World Cup, and survive seven games across the US, Canada and Mexico without a single loss.
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13 wins and a draw
Spain’s last loss was a 1-0 in a game against Colombia in March 2024. The Spanish victory over France was built on a dominant midfield display, with both captain Rodri and Fabian Ruiz breaking French attacking movement.
Michael Olise, who began the game as Les Bleus main attacking fulcrum, was effectively handled by the Spanish midfield duo, leaving Ousmanne Dembele and captain Mbappe short on any sort of ball service in advanced areas of the Spanish half.
Lamine Yamal, who turned 19 earlier this week, was able to force French left-back Lucas Digne to commit a foul leading to the first-half penalty. La Roja have now defeated France in all three of their games in the last couple of years, including in the 2024 Euro championships and the Nations League.
French manager Didier Deschamps has lost more games against Spain (five times) than any other team during his 14-year tenure leading Les Bleus, according to Opta. Spanish coach Luis de la Fuente has yet to be defeated in 14 games at major tournaments — the World Cup and the Euros. His current record is 13 wins and one draw.
The draw was against Cabo Verde in their first Group Stage match. Spain will face either Argentina or England on Sunday at the finals of the 2026 World Cup.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)