Twelve teams entered the first round, with the six winners joining the host nation (Belgium) and France, in the quarter-finals.

Belgium won the gold medal by default after Czechoslovakia walked off in protest during the final, unhappy with the performance of the English referee, John Lewis.

Spain thus advanced straight to the silver medal match against Holland, beaten in the semi-finals by gold medallists Belgium.

La Rojita failed to repeat their past success and were eliminated in the quarter-finals by eventual runners-up Argentina.

The squad, managed by head coach Iñaki Sáez, reached their second final but were not able to take gold, losing to Cameroon.

The score was unchanged after extra time and the match was decided via penalty shootout, with Spain losing 5–3.

After eight years without participation, Spain qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics after winning the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship under head coach Luis Milla.

At the Olympics, Spain was eliminated in the group stage after falling shockingly 1–0 to Japan and a controversial loss to Honduras.

This was followed by a 0–0 draw to Morocco, forcing Spain's exit from the tournament at the group stage for the first time, and without scoring a single goal.

Six Spanish players: Unai Simón, Pau Torres, Eric García, Pedri, Mikel Oyarzabal and Dani Olmo who had participated in the UEFA Euro 2020 played a major role for Spain in the 2020 Olympics under coach Luis de la Fuente.

But this was not to be the case, as the Spaniards ran rampant on their opponents, defeating them 3–0 to advance to the semifinals for a second time in a row.

At their semifinal game, they faced Morocco, a team the Spaniards have had somewhat of a problem defeating in recent years and who eliminated Spain in A selection on penalties at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Although they fell behind at half time 1–0 following an opponent's penalty kick, Spain was able to turn the game around, and in dominant fashion defeated their African counterparts 2–1 to advance to their second consecutive final.

Thus after 32 years, Spain was able to win their second gold medal and completing the double after the senior team won the European trophy a month prior.