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Spain’s World Cup-winning team arrived home from South Africa for a huge celebration on Monday, including meetings with the Spanish king and prime minister and an open air bus ride through the city’s historic centre.
Players landed at Madrid’s Barajas airport shortly before 3pm (2300AEST).
Dozens of airport workers cheered from the runway as the plane, flying Spanish flags from cockpit windows, taxied to a stop while car horns could be heard honking in the distance.
A special slogan printed along the fuselage of the Iberia plane read: “Proud of our National Team. Champions.”
A roar of delight rose up as team captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas stepped out from the plane and raised the World Cup.
The crowd then broke into chanting “Campeones, Campeones”, meaning “champions”.
The players, wearing the team jersey, walked from the plane to a waiting Spanish football federation bus watched on by dozens of journalists.
After resting at a hotel, they will be received by King Juan Carlos in the Royal Palace. Then they head to meet Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
Monday’s highlight will be a 5km bus ride through Madrid and crowds wearing the Spanish flag’s bright red and yellow colours.
Several hundred thousand fans were expected to line the streets to celebrate Spain’s first World Cup title.
Spain beat the Netherlands 1-0 on Sunday in extra time.
The victory appeared to inject a dose of unity into this fractious nation even in regions seeking more autonomy or outright independence. It was also a welcome break from economic gloom and soaring unemployment.
“It was as if this was unfinished business for Spain and so it’s been good for everyone,” said Soledad Gonzalez, 51, a security guard from Madrid. “I hope that, God willing, finally, the Spanish flag means being Spanish and not being a fascist, as was the case not so long ago,” she said.
Some news reports saw the national team as an example to follow.
“It would be good if the collective enthusiasm for the team became a stimulus for Spanish society in the face of the current problems and even that it became the motive to demand that our country should resemble and work like this group of young men,” the ABC newspaper said.
Officials said about 75,000 fans celebrated the victory waving the Spanish flag in Barcelona on Sunday night, where more than 1.1 million people had protested a day earlier against a Spanish court ruling that their autonomous Catalonia region must remain part of Spain.
The victory dominated the country’s media, with newspapers paying tribute to the first Spanish team to claim football’s most prestigious trophy and television stations replaying Andres Iniesta’s winning goal over and over.
Under the front page headline “World Champions,” leading Spanish newspaper El Pais called the win “an ode to happiness”.
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