Management Lessons from Spain's Euro 2008 Football Championship Triumph

In Spain, football is the most popular sport and has been played since the early 19th century. The nation has a glorious history in football. However, its domestic leagues earned more international acclaim than the national football team, which despite having a rich talent pool remained an underachiever on most occasions. Over the years, the Spanish national team gave many famous football legends to the football fraternity such as Alfredo Di Stefano, Kubala, Luis Suarez, Zamora, Santillana, Michel, and Butragueño, but when it came to performance as a national team, it found going past the initial rounds or the quarter finals in major tournaments such as the World Cup and the Euro Cup a hard task.

Experts reasoned that the lack of team spirit was mainly due to the fact that there was intense rivalry between the different regions of Spain. They pointed out that the various regions were divided as far as culture and political outlook were concerned. In such a situation, it was very difficult for the members of the team to play as a unit, they said.

Some analysts considered the appointment of José Luis Aragonés Suárez (Aragonés) as coach of the Spanish national team a seminal moment in turning around the fortunes of the Spanish football team. Aragonés' appointment came shortly after Spain's debacle in the 2004 Euro Cup...