Fabián Ruiz reflected on his success with Spain in 2026 in an interview with AS.
The midfielder, who was nominated in the 2024 European Championships Team of the Tournament, has now won a third major honour in four summers after lifting the Nations League trophy in 2023 and winning the World Cup this year.
That most recent accomplishment came on a day that was already immortalised for the 30-year-old, and his experience in the USA will live long in the memory.
A date he will never forget
However, Fabián knows that the team cannot remain in a headspace squarely focused on the past.
His successes with La Roja and Paris Saint-Germain have been acquired through the relentless pursuit of improvement for country and club, so he wants to go again in the Nations League.
“I was able to celebrate my wedding anniversary and also celebrate winning the World Cup. So, July 19 is going to stay with me and my family for the rest of our lives because it’s a very special date.
“Ultimately, it’s the result of many years of work, a continuous journey and a very good season. Thanks to the work all the players and the coach have been doing for a number of years, we were finally able to achieve something we had been desperate for. Above all, the country deserved it.
“Spain deserved it. We were fortunate enough to be the ones who could represent that star.
“It makes you happy to see a whole country happy because of what we did.
“It was something beautiful. Everywhere we go, people show us their affection, and for us that’s the most important thing. Seeing so many people here watching training, walking down the street and still having people thank you for what we did… For us, that’s something special and beautiful.
‘The hardest thing is winning again’
"The manager has already told us that the past is forgotten; it's history, and that's wonderful, but now it's time to focus on the present. The hardest thing in football is winning again. Winning once is great, but doing it again is the difficult part.
"That's the challenge we have now: to want to win again, to keep winning. It's very difficult, but this team has what it takes to do it, and we're going for this title with a lot of enthusiasm; we also consider it very important. We hope to be in the final four [of the Nations League]."
