World Cup and identity crisis: is Spain in decline?

The World Cup Spain may not play: the debate over its disappearance

A blunt claim: Spain will not be at the next World Cup. Not because of sporting results, but because, according to a current of political analysis, the country as we know it will have disintegrated by then. The buzz around the 2026 World Cup has served as the backdrop for a debate mixing conspiracy, geopolitics and institutional disaffection.

Among the most striking claims is that the current tournament is the Spanish national team's last World Cup, since by the next one Spain will supposedly have trinc the fate of France and England, territories broken up or politically unrecognisable. It is not a sporting prophecy but a metaphor for the national collapse some predict in the short term.

The backdrop is a war of accusations of Russian interference. Certain political figures have been accused of receiving funding from foreign intelligence services to discredit a dossier known as the Royuela file, while being linked to the "dirty tricks apparatus of the PSOE" (Spain's Socialist Party). The self-styled party Memocracia Nacional sits at the centre of the controversy, with critics accusing it of being the same face as the traditional two-party system, exemplified by its alleged recurring alignment with Pedro Sánchez.

Closing: If the next World Cup takes place in 2030, by then we will know whether Spain is still on the map. Current demographic and political data point to decline, but recent history teaches that apocalyptic predictions rarely come true to the letter. For now, the debate remains a tension between the narrative of the end and everyday resilience.