**”You have won with courage and honor. When Spain plays, all of Spain plays. You fought for this with both your minds and your hearts, and you achieved it.”** With these words, **King Felipe VI** congratulated Spain’s national football team, who on Monday began a day of celebrations that continued at the Moncloa Palace, where they were welcomed by Prime Minister **Pedro Sánchez**, before concluding with a grand celebration at Madrid’s **Cibeles Square** following an open-top bus parade through the city.
The staff of the **Zarzuela Palace** welcomed the Spanish players, who arrived wearing their navy-blue suits and turquoise polo shirts—the official travel uniform designed by **Loewe**—before being received by **King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia, Princess Leonor, and Infanta Sofía**. Royal guards, aides, administrative staff, civil servants, and senior officials—all those on duty at the King’s official residence—gathered outside the palace’s glass entrance building to greet the newly crowned world champions.
Inside the Audience Hall, the King and Queen greeted each player individually, led by head coach **Luis de la Fuente** and team captain **Rodri (Rodrigo Hernández)**. King Felipe, dressed in a suit and tie, Queen Letizia in a red dress, and Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía wearing Spain’s white national team jerseys—still bearing only one embroidered star at that moment—welcomed the squad with warm smiles.
Later, the players lined up on the palace’s outdoor staircase overlooking the gardens, where the Royal Family joined them for the official team photograph. **Rafael Louzán**, President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, then presented King Felipe, Queen Letizia, Princess Leonor, and Infanta Sofía with personalized red Spain jerseys featuring their names and the newly embroidered **two stars**, symbolizing Spain’s second FIFA World Cup title.
The Spanish team arrived at the palace accompanied by Spain’s Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, **Milagros Tolón**, and the President of the Higher Sports Council, **José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes**.
### The King’s Speech
“You’ve come back tired—but what a wonderful kind of tiredness, isn’t it?
It has been an odyssey. The journey was long, with 48 teams competing. It was an epic triumph. You return bruised, but with the joy of bringing the World Cup home.
With patience and without losing hope, you remained faithful to your distinctive style and system. You stayed united as one team—supportive, generous, and committed to one another.
From today onward, those two stars will forever shine for Spain. You are a legendary, star-studded team. Winning the World Cup is no longer something completely unique for Spain, but it is always extraordinary.
Thanks to you, Spain is once again the Football World Cup champion.
You showed determination, resilience, and boldness, always backed by your outstanding technique, your control of the game, and your mastery of the pitch, combining intelligence with heart.
Sixteen years after our first World Cup triumph, Spain has once again become world champion because of you—many of you were only babies in 2010 when Spain earned its first star.
Today, Spain proudly holds both the men’s **2026 FIFA World Cup** title and the women’s **2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup** title. Let us never forget that.
When you won, you won for all of Spain.
For the four of us, it was a privilege and a joy to watch you play in the final, to celebrate with you as you lifted the trophy, and to welcome you home.
Despite your exhaustion, you still have many celebrations ahead of you—but you are going to enjoy every moment of them.
You have earned it. Congratulations.”
Standing in the palace gardens beside the World Cup trophy displayed on a ceremonial pedestal, King Felipe congratulated the players once more before joining them to continue sharing in the celebrations. The palace staff, who had earlier formed a guard of honor, applauded the team again. After spending several minutes talking with the King, Queen Letizia, Princess Leonor, and Infanta Sofía, the players departed the Zarzuela Palace and headed to the **Moncloa Palace** for the next stage of Spain’s World Cup victory celebrations.
Video Source
