Torres debuted for the Spanish senior squad on 6 September 2003 in a friendly against Portugal, scoring his first goal against Italy on 28 April 2004. He was selected for the Spanish squad for UEFA Euro 2004. making him Spain's top scorer for qualification, including a vital two goals against Belgium and his first international hat-trick against San Marino. In the second group match, Torres scored twice against Tunisia, first in the 76th minute to take Spain 2–1 into the lead, and then again from a penalty kick in the 90th. With three goals, he finished the tournament as Spain's top scorer alongside fellow striker David Villa.
2007–08: European Champions
Torres was called up for Spain's Euro 2008 squad, where he set up Villa to score Spain's first goal of the tournament in the first game in the group stage against Russia. Torres came under criticism for apparently refusing to shake the hand of Spanish manager Luis Aragonés after being substituted off. He subsequently denied being angry with the coaching, saying that he was actually "irritated with himself". Torres scored the winner and was named the man of the match in the final against Germany in a 1–0 victory. He said, "It's just a dream come true. This is my first title and I hope it's the first of many. Victory in a Euro, it is almost as big as a World Cup. We are used to watching finals on television, but today we were here and we won. My job is to score goals. I want to win more titles and be the most important player in Europe and the world." He was later named as a striker along with his striking partner David Villa in the Team of the Tournament.
2009–10: World Cup champions
thumb|left|Torres celebrating with Spain at [[Plaza de España (Madrid)|Plaza de España on 12 July 2010 after winning the 2010 FIFA World Cup]]
Torres made his 60th appearance for Spain in a 2010 World Cup qualification victory over Turkey on 28 March 2009, becoming the youngest player to reach this milestone.
Torres was named in Spain's team for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in June. He scored his second hat-trick for Spain after 17 minutes into a Confederations Cup match against New Zealand on 14 June, thus recording the fastest hat-trick by a player for Spain. He played for Spain as they were defeated 2–0 by the United States in the semi-final, as well as the third-place play-off, which Spain won 3–2 against South Africa after extra time.
Having undergone knee surgery on 18 April 2010, and missing the end of the Premier League season, Torres's rehabilitation and fitness was closely monitored by Spain manager Vicente del Bosque. On 8 June, Torres made his first appearance on the field in exactly two months, coming on as a substitute on 66 minutes against Poland in a pre-World Cup friendly.
Torres came on as a substitute on 61 minutes in Spain's opening World Cup match on 16 June, a 1–0 defeat to Switzerland. He started the next two matches against Honduras and Chile and although his performances in the group stage were described as below-par, he received backing from Del Bosque. Torres came on as a substitute on 105 minutes in the final as Spain won the World Cup for the first time following a 1–0 victory over the Netherlands on 11 July 2010.
2011–12: Euro 2012 glory
thumb|Torres (left) celebrating with Spain teammates [[Juan Mata and Sergio Ramos after winning UEFA Euro 2012]]
Torres was selected in Del Bosque's Euro 2012 squad. In his first start of the tournament, he netted two goals as Spain defeated the Republic of Ireland 4–0 to eliminate them from the tournament. In the tournament final, Torres came on as a substitute against Italy, scoring one goal and assisting another, as Spain won a second consecutive European Championship with a 4–0 victory. This secured him the Golden Boot for the tournament with three goals and one assist, having played fewer minutes than Mario Gómez, who also had three goals and one assist.
Torres won his 100th cap against Saudi Arabia on 7 September 2012, making him the sixth-highest capped player for Spain, and started the game as captain in goalkeeper Iker Casillas' absence.
2013–14: Confederations Cup top scorer and final World Cup
He became the first player in history to score four goals in one game in a FIFA Confederations Cup match during a 10–0 win over Tahiti on 20 June 2013 in the 2013 Confederations Cup. Torres also became the first player to score two hat-tricks in the Confederations Cup, and with five goals and one assist won the tournament's Golden Shoe, ahead of Fred having played fewer minutes.
In his first international for 11 months, Torres scored a penalty in a World Cup warm-up match against Bolivia on 30 May 2014. The day after, he was named in Spain's final squad for the tournament, ahead of Álvaro Negredo and Fernando Llorente. After substitute appearances in the team's opening two matches, Torres was named in the starting line-up for the third group match with the team's elimination already confirmed. He scored Spain's second goal in a 3–0 defeat of Australia in Curitiba. He had the ability to find open spaces and capitalize on defensive errors. A hard-working striker, Torres was known for chasing down and putting pressure on opposing defenders. He was also capable of creating chances for other attackers; this also saw him being deployed in a deeper role as a second striker on occasion.
Due to his consistent goalscoring as a young player, Torres was nicknamed El Niño ('The Kid'). However, Torres lost most of his pace and form in later seasons due to injuries.
Coaching career
On 25 July 2021, Torres became head coach of Atlético Madrid’s Juvenil A (U19) team. On 11 June 2024, he became head coach of Atlético Madrid B. His debut on the first day of the Primera Federación season was a 1–0 home loss to Atlético Sanluqueño.
Personal life
thumb|upright|Torres's Tolkien tattoo can be seen on his left forearm
Torres's parents are José Torres and Flori Sanz. He married Olalla Domínguez Liste on 27 May 2009 in a private ceremony in El Escorial, Madrid. The couple has three children.
Torres featured in a video for "Ya nada volverá a ser como antes" by Spanish pop rock group El Canto del Loco, and the singer, Dani Martín, is friends with him. In 2009, he released an autobiography entitled Torres: El Niño: My Story. Torres likes the works of J. R. R. Tolkien and has a tattoo of his name in Tengwar on his left forearm.
In 2011, a stadium in Fuenlabrada was built in his honor.
Career statistics
Club
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
|-
!rowspan=2|Club
!rowspan=2|Season
!colspan=3|League
!colspan=2|National cup
!colspan=2|League cup
!colspan=2|Continental
!colspan=2|Other
!colspan=2|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan=8|Atlético Madrid
|2000–01
|Segunda División
|4||1||2||0|| colspan="2" |—|| colspan="2" |—|| colspan="2" |—||6||1
|-
|2001–02
|Segunda División
|36||6||1||1
| colspan="2" |—
| colspan="2" |—
| colspan="2" |—||37||7
|-
|2002–03
|La Liga
|29||13||3||1
| colspan="2" |—
| colspan="2" |—
| colspan="2" |—||32||14
|-
|2003–04
|La Liga
|35||19||5||2
| colspan="2" |—
| colspan="2" |—
| colspan="2" |—||40||21
|-
|2004–05
|La Liga
|38||16||6||2
| colspan="2" |—||5||2
| colspan="2" |—||49||20
|-
|2005–06
|La Liga
|36||13||4||0|| colspan="2" |—
| colspan="2" |—
| colspan="2" |—||40||13
|-
|2006–07
|La Liga
|36||14||4||1
| colspan="2" |—
| colspan="2" |—
| colspan="2" |—||40||15
|-
!colspan=2|Total
!214||82||25||7||colspan=2|—||5||2||colspan=2|—||244||91
|-
|rowspan=5|Liverpool
|2007–08
|Premier League
|33||24||1||0||1||3||11||6|| colspan="2" |—||46||33
|-
|2008–09
|Premier League
|24||14||3||1|||2||0|||9||2
| colspan="2" |—||38||17
|-
|2009–10
|Premier League
|22||18|||2||0
| colspan="2" |—||8||4
| colspan="2" |—||32||22
|-
|2010–11
|Premier League
|14||1|| colspan="2" |—
| colspan="2" |—||4||0|| colspan="2" |—||18||1
|-
|2011–12
|Premier League
|32||6||6||2||1||0||10||3
| colspan="2" |—||49||11
|-
|2012–13
|Premier League
|36||8||5||1||4||2||16||9||3||2||64||22
|-
|2013–14
|Premier League
|28||5||2||0||1||1||10||5||0
|0||41||11
|-
!colspan=2|Total
!110||20||13||3||6||3||40||17||3||2||172||45
|-
|AC Milan (loan)
|2014–15
|La Liga
|19||3||4||3|| colspan="2" |—||3||0|| colspan="2" |—||26||6
|-
|2015–16
|La Liga
|30||11||2||0
| colspan="2" |—||12||1
| colspan="2" |—||44||12
|-
|rowspan=3|Atlético Madrid
|2016–17
|La Liga
|31||8||5||1
| colspan="2" |—||9||1
| colspan="2" |—||45||10
|-
|2017–18
|La Liga
|27||5||6||3
| colspan="2" |—||12||2
| colspan="2" |—||45||10
|-
!colspan=2|Total
!107||27||17||7||colspan=2|—||36||4||colspan=2|—||160||38
|-
|rowspan=3|Sagan Tosu
|2018
|J1 League
|18||2||1||1||2||0
| colspan="2" |—
| colspan="2" |—||21||3
|-
!colspan=2|Total
!35||5||3||2||2||0|| colspan="2" |—
! colspan="2" |—||40||7
|-
!colspan=3|Career total
!578||200||65||20||11||6||111||35||3||2||768||263
|}
International
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by national team and year
|-
!National team!!Year!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan=12|Spain
|2003||3||0
|-
|2004||11||1
|-
|2005||12||8
|-
|2006||13||5
|-
|2007||6||1
|-
|2008||13||3
|-
|2009||13||5
|-
|2010||11||3
|-
|2011||9||1
|-
|2012||10||4
|-
|2013||5||5
|-
|2014||4||2
|-
!colspan=2|Total||110||38
|}
Honours
Atlético Madrid
- UEFA Europa League: 2017–18
- UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2015–16
Chelsea
- FA Cup: 2011–12
Spain U16
- UEFA European Under-16 Championship: 2001
- UEFA European Under-16 Championship top scorer: 2001
- UEFA European Under-19 Championship Player of the Tournament: 2002
- Liverpool Player of the Season Awards: 2007–08
- Premier League PFA Team of the Year: 2007–08, 2008–09
- Premier League Player of the Month: February 2008, September 2009
- BBC Goal of the Month: April 2009
- UEFA Euro 2008 Final: Man of the Match
- UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 2008
- UEFA Team of the Year: 2008
- ESM Team of the Year: 2007–08
- Premier League Player of the Year by Northwest Football Awards: 2008
- FIFA Confederations Cup Silver Shoe: 2009
- Marca Leyenda award: 2012
- UEFA European Championship Golden Boot: 2012
Decorations
- Prince of Asturias Award for Sports: 2010
See also
- List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
- Estadio Fernando Torres
References
Sources
External links
- Profile at the Liverpool F.C. website
- Profile at the Royal Spanish Football Federation website