Hundreds of thousands welcome Spain squad in Madrid

Hundreds of thousands of people cheered Spain’s football World Cup champions in Madrid on Monday, the mayor’s office said, as they rode triumphantly through the capital in an open-top bus.

“We can speak of there being several hundred thousand people,” a city hall spokeswoman told AFP, adding it was difficult to arrive at a precise figure because of the length of the parade route.

Fans chanted “Campeones! Campeones! Campeones!” and waved red and gold Spanish flags as the victory bus creeped along a eight-kilometre (five-mile) route, in an emotional homecoming covered live on television.

The parade through the capital’s main thoroughfares was to culminate at an esplanade near the riverside Puente del Rey, where festivities were expected to continue officially until midnight (2200 GMT).

Spain won the World Cup for the first time ever on Sunday with a nail-biting 1-0 extra-time win over the Netherlands that sparked nocturnal street celebrations across Spain.

The team arrived at Madrid’s Barajas airport just before 2 pm (1200 GMT) on an Iberia flight that sported Spanish flags at the cockpit windows and the words “Proud of our squad” emblazoned on the fuselage.