Spain’s newly crowned FIFA World Cup champions landed back in Madrid Monday with a million supporters expected to greet them following a night of raucous celebrations around the country.

At the top of the stairs, Spain captain Rodri got off the Iberia jet that brought the squad back to the USA after winning their second star and raised the World Cup trophy above his head.

Ferran Torres scored the only goal as Spain beat Argentina 1-0 in extra-time in New Jersey on Sunday, sparking a wave of national pride in the football-crazy country which also won the World Cup in 2010.

A lot of fans in their 20s and 30s today weren’t even born when Andres Iniesta’s extra-time goal secured Spain’s first World Cup win in South Africa 16 years ago.

On Monday morning the Castellana, Madrid’s major boulevard, showed the hallmarks of a wild night – debris, beer bottles and broken glass were strewn across the tarmac.

Some of the last surviving fans slept on the pavement or on benches with smiles on their faces while others were still staggering home as cleaning staff worked from the early hours to prepare the route for tonight’s festivities.

“I didn’t sleep much because of the celebration and then the tension of the match — I think it was a little more difficult for all of us to fall asleep,” Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told RNE radio.

The players will be met by King Felipe VI at Zarzuela Palace, on the outskirts of Madrid, after they land, the mayor said.

The squad will next be received by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at the government headquarters, La Moncloa.

Francisco Martin, the central government’s representative in Madrid, told Spanish public television that Spain’s World Cup winners will have an open-top bus parade starting at Moncloa and finishing at Cibeles square.

There will subsequently be a ceremony with the players at the square, the usual meeting spot for celebrations by the Spanish national team and its fans.

The parade route is likely to be lined with almost one million people, with extra security and transit arrangements in place to manage the throng, Martin said.

Some fans, having had only a few hours’ sleep, are planning to rejoice again. Bruno Gonzalez del Yerro, a 32-year-old financier for instance.

“It’s a big thing, it only happens every four years and Spain hadn’t won it for about [16] years now so it deserves a party and we’ll have to celebrate it one way or another,” he remarked.

For the first time a country owns both trophies at the same time when Spain’s women’s side won the World Cup in 2023.

Spain will defend their title on home soil, with Morocco and Portugal, as hosts of the 2030 World Cup.

The celebrations of Spain’s World Cup were not simply heard across the country – they were felt under the ground.

Spanish World Cup celebrations recorded by seismic sensors

Vibrations created by fans exploding in joy after Ferran Torres’ goal in Sunday’s final clinched the national team’s second World Cup win were picked up by seismometers scattered across Spain, scientists revealed on Monday.

The Geosciences Barcelona centre analysed data from the National Geographic Institute (IGN) and the Catalan Geological and Cartographic Institute (ICGC) that showed anomalous signals linked to the celebrations in cities such as Algeciras, Barcelona, Cadiz and Granada, they said in a statement.

The sensors captured three distinct spurts of activity during the match, the post-Torres goal, a later goal disallowed by VAR and the loudest vibration of all after the final whistle.

The vibrations were an example of “induced seismicity” created by human activity, scientists claimed, in this case thousands of fans jumping, shouting and rejoicing together.

Similar vibrations were also observed by sensors during Spain’s Euro 2024 final win over England as goals from Nico Williams and Mikel Oyarzabal caused quantifiable ground movements in Madrid and Barcelona.

All-time royalty

The Spanish press was running out of superlatives to describe its heroes after they beat favourites France in the semis before downing Argentina.

Marca lauded the “kings of all-time” and a “second star that will now be sewn on the Spanish jersey after yet another masterclass of collective play”.

In a tragic twist, a 13-year-old kid died just after midnight in the western town of Ciudad Rodrigo, when a fountain collapsed beneath the weight of fans who had piled on it to rejoice.

The first stillness in Buenos Aires after defeat was deafening and then the sobs when the reality struck in – their hopes of a fourth World Cup destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of spectators are due to greet the players on their return at 5pm local time (1am PKT Tuesday).

In the extended format with 48 teams, there were only two teams standing by the 104th and last match, Spain and Argentina, after more than five weeks of competition.

The 2022 champions, with all-time great Lionel Messi, failed to produce clear-cut chances against a well-drilled and more positive Spain.

A red card for Enzo Fernandez had put Argentina’s backs against the wall and Barcelona forward Torres hammered home after fellow replacement Nico Williams teed him up.

“It’s not my goal, it’s the goal of 47 million people,” stated Spain’s match-winner.

Messi had a brilliant World Cup but floated around the final like a ghost, weeping at the end. Tears will fall in Madrid on Monday night too, but tears of joy.