Spain U18

There is no league table for this side, no fixture list, only whichever tournament the calendar puts in front of it. Spain assembles an under-18 squad for a given competition and training block rather than fielding one continuous team, drawing on players who will move up to the under-19 group within a year or two. Ilaix Moriba took two caps at this level in 2019, in the same year Pedri was called into the squad, before both continued upward through the age grades.

The side trains at La Ciudad del Fútbol, the federation's complex in Las Rozas, outside Madrid, opened in 2003. Spain had already been winning at this level long before the building existed: the under-18s took the FIFA Junior Tournament in 1952 and again in 1954, with Paco Santamaría captaining the side around that period. The 1995 European Under-18 Championship followed, the last edition played under that name before the competition was restructured a year older.

Since then the country's success has continued one age bracket up, at Under-19 level, where the team has been champion of Europe nine times: 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2024. That run makes the age-group set-up look less like a stepping stone and more like a proven pathway for young talent.

Not every recent outing has gone that way. At the 2022 Mediterranean Games in Oran, the team went out in the group stage and finished the tournament in 8th place.