MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cheering “Viva España”, “Soy español” millions take to the streets to celebrate

Even in Barcelona the separatist Catalonians partied with Spanish flags (Photo EFE)

Spontaneous celebrations erupted across Spain on Sunday after the national football team won its first World Cup when Andres Iniesta scored an extra-time goal in a 1-0 wins over the Netherlands at Soccer City, Johannesburg.

An estimated 300,000 people forming a sea of red and yellow packed Madrid's downtown Paseo de Recoletos Boulevard to watch the final from Johannesburg on giant TV screens and erupted at the final whistle as Spain became world and European champions. The celebrations were easily the biggest ever held in living memory in Spain.

Fireworks lit up the city sky as people herded out onto the streets to celebrate. Television shots showed exuberant partying in jammed town squares across the country, from Zaragoza in the northeast to Seville in the southwest.

Spain, long tagged a perennial underachiever before winning the 2008 European Championship to end a 44-year title drought, had never before gone past the quarterfinals. The team finished fourth at the 1950 World Cup when the playoff system was different.

For Spain the unprecedented victory comes as an incalculable boost to the country’s morale. The nation recently woke up to the fact that it has been living way beyond its means, with four million unemployed and the prospect of a double-dip recession.

Politically the unity of the country faces a strong challenge from the richest (and separatist) region, Catalonia, which wants to be declared a “nation”, an issue that has reached the constitutional court and on Saturday convened an estimated 1.1 million people in Barcelona to protest a ruling saying the region must remain part of Spain.

In Barcelona close to 100.000 assembled to watch the giant screen close to Plaza España and at the final whistle fireworks exploded, and as in the rest of the country, the partying begun but (an almost unthinkable sight) with Spanish flags.

Over the past four weeks, across Spain the bars have turned themselves inside out, with the TV and all the tables in the street, and no one inside. In Barcelona, the Arc de Triomf bar in the city centre was draped in Spanish flags and a group in Spanish football shirts led the crowd in renditions of Viva España! and Soy Español (I am Spanish).

It may not last, but this is a victory for everyone in divided Spain. Catalans have plenty to cheer about. The core of the team: Xavi, Puyol, Piqué and Busquets – are all Catalans and seven players on the pitch last night play for FC Barcelona. In fact, every single Spanish goal in the competition has been scored by a Barça player, including last night's winner scored by Andrés Iniesta.

José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the Spanish president, said of the team before the match: “They have rejected fatalism and pessimism and turned them into confidence and joy. This is the image we want Spain to have in the 21st century.”