Islamabad, July 2 : Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque has said the major reason behind the team's emphatic success was the efficiency of its clubs' football academies and the excellence of its coaching staff.

Del Bosque said Spain are into an incredible footballing era, and are leading the pack of Europe's elite football playing nations.

"(Our success) is not a coincidence and has its foundations in many things, in the structure of our football, in the academies, and in better coaches," the Dawn newspaper quoted Del Bosque, as saying on the Spanish Football Association's website.

"The (Spanish) clubs are devoting themselves to training youngsters, some kids leave for foreign teams at a very young age. Before we would travel abroad to look at the academies in France, Russia, Germany. Now, many of these countries come to see what we are doing in Spain," he added.

"We have put a certain complex regarding Europe behind us and right now we are at the same level as any country in our vicinity. We are among a group of candidates to lead European football," he said. (ANI)