Spain Olympics 2020 men's football squad: Who's going to Tokyo?
Six of the squad that reached the semi-finals of Euro 2020 will be taking part in Tokyo
Spain are targeting success in the men’s football tournament at the Tokyo Olympics, having chosen a squad packed with talent.
Six of the players were involved at the Euros as Luis Enrique’s side reached the semi-finals before losing to eventual champions Italy on penalties.
Barcelona wonderkid Pedri and Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Unai Simon played every minute of every game during that run.
The other four – Eric Garcia, Pau Torres, Dani Olmo and Mikel Oyarzabal – all saw plenty of action too as Spain recovered from an underwhelming start to reach the last four.
Real Sociedad’s Oyarzabal was even on the scoresheet at the end of a thrilling 5-3 win over Croatia in the second round.
The Spanish men’s football team previously claimed gold at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, when they beat Poland 3-2 in the final thanks to Kiko’s last-minute strike.
They then won the silver medal in Sydney eight years later, as a side featuring Xavi, Carles Puyol and Raul Tamudo lost to Cameroon on penalties.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
The current Spain team are managed by Luis de la Fuente, who has been in charge of the Under-21s since July 2018.
He led them to success in the European Championship a year later, with several of that squad heading with him to Tokyo.
De la Fuente has selected three overage players – Real Madrid pair Dani Ceballos and Marco Asensio, and Real Sociedad’s Mikel Merino.
Spain have been drawn in Group C alongside Argentina, Egypt and Australia, with the top two going through to the quarter-finals.
Goalkeepers: Alex Dominguez (Las Palmas), Alvaro Fernandez (Huesca), Unai Simon (Athletic Bilbao)
Defenders: Eric Garcia (Barcelona), Juan Miranda (Real Betis), Oscar Mingueza (Barcelona), Oscar Gil (Espanyol), Pau Torres (Villarreal), Jesus Vallejo (Granada)
Midfielders: Pedri (Barcelona), Martin Zubimendi (Real Sociedad), Marc Cucurella (Getafe), Jon Moncayola (Osasuna), Dani Olmo (RB Leipzig), Carlos Soler (Valencia), Dani Ceballos (Real Madrid), Mikel Merino (Real Sociedad)
Forwards: Javi Puado (Espanyol), Rafa Mir (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Mikel Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad), Bryan Gil (Sevilla), Marco Asensio (Real Madrid)
FourFourTwo was launched in 1994 on the back of a World Cup that England hadn’t even qualified for. It was an act of madness… but it somehow worked out. Our mission is to offer our intelligent, international audience access to the game’s biggest names, insightful analysis... and a bit of a giggle. We unashamedly love this game and we hope that our coverage reflects that.
‘Arteta, Alonso, Emery, me… none of us were physical players – we needed the understanding of the game. That probably helped us move into management’: Premier League boss reveals reasons for natural career progression
‘England have the players to win the World Cup – it’ll be tough for Thomas Tuchel to do a bad job, with the squad he has at his disposal’ Former Three Lions winger backs new boss after gentle qualifying draw