Spain's football captain Iker Casillas was first off the plane holding the World Cup trophy aloft as the team arrived home in Madrid for the start of the official celebrations.
The team landed at 2 o'clock this morning in the Spanish capital where it was a scorching 40 degrees, and the players were soon on a bus to the city centre for an audience with King Juan Carlos, who had been unable to attend the final in Johannesburg on doctors' orders after an illness.
They then set off in an open-topped bus round the streets of the capital.
