David Villa is a Spanish professional association footballer who represented the Spain national football team from 2005 to 2017. He made his debut for Spain as a substitute in a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification match against San Marino in February 2005.^[1][2] He scored his first international goal on his fourth appearance for Spain, scoring from the bench to equalise in the second leg of the 2006 World Cup qualification play-offs.^[3] He scored 59 goals in 98 international appearances, making him Spain's all-time top scorer; he surpassed Raúl's previous record of 44 when he scored twice against the Czech Republic in UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying in March 2011.^[4]

Villa achieved his inaugural international hat-trick on 10 June 2008 when he scored the first three goals in a 4–1 victory for Spain over Russia during UEFA Euro 2008 to win group D.^[5] He scored two other hat-tricks, against Azerbaijan (in 2009) and Tahiti (in 2013).^[6][7] He scored more times against Liechtenstein than any other nation, with seven, including twice in a single match on three occasions. Twenty of Villa's goals were scored at home at thirteen different venues.

Villa scored more goals in qualifying matches than in any other type of match, with 21. He scored nineteen times in friendlies, nine times in FIFA World Cup finals, six times in the FIFA Confederations Cup and four times in UEFA European Championship finals. Villa was equal top scorer at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, alongside Germany's Thomas Müller, Netherlands' Wesley Sneijder and Uruguay's Diego Forlán, all of whom scored five goals in the tournament.^[8] Villa broke his leg playing for his club team FC Barcelona in December 2011, which resulted in his failure to take part in Spain's victorious UEFA Euro 2012 campaign.^[9] He left Barcelona in 2013 to join La Liga opposition team Atlético Madrid for a season before moving to New York City FC in Major League Soccer in the summer of 2014.^[10] His last international goal came in June 2014, against Australia at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. After his move to the United States in 2014, he only played one more game for Spain, a 2018 World Cup qualifier against Italy in September 2017.^[11][12] After joining Japanese side Vissel Kobe in 2018, Villa announced his retirement from football at the end of the 2019 J1 League season.^[13]

International goals

Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first.^[1]

No.	Cap	Date	Venue	Opponent	Goal	Result	Competition	Ref
1	4	16 November 2005	Tehelné pole, Bratislava, Slovakia	Slovakia	1–1	1–1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification	[3]
2	5	1 March 2006	Estadio José Zorrilla, Valladolid, Spain	Ivory Coast	1–1	3–2	Friendly	[14]
3	9	13 June 2006	Zentralstadion, Leipzig, Germany	Ukraine	2–0	4–0	2006 FIFA World Cup	[15]
4					3–0‡
5	12	27 June 2006	AWD-Arena, Hanover, Germany	France	1–0‡	1–3	2006 FIFA World Cup	[16]
6	14	2 September 2006	Estadio Nuevo Vivero, Badajoz, Spain	Liechtenstein	2–0	4–0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying	[17]
7					3–0
8	15	6 September 2006	Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland	2–1	2–3	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying	[18]
9	17	11 October 2006	Nueva Condomina, Murcia, Spain	Argentina	2–1‡	2–1	Friendly	[19]
10	20	24 March 2007	Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain	Denmark	2–0	2–1	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying	[20]
11	23	6 June 2007	Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	1–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying	[21]
12					2–0
13	30	26 March 2008	Manuel Martínez Valero, Elche, Spain	Italy	1–0	1–0	Friendly	[22]
14	31	31 May 2008	Nuevo Colombino, Huelva, Spain	Peru	1–0	2–1	Friendly	[23]
15	32	10 June 2008	Tivoli-Neu, Innsbruck, Austria	Russia	1–0	4–1	UEFA Euro 2008	[5]
16					2–0
17					3–0
18	33	14 June 2008	Tivoli-Neu, Innsbruck, Austria	Sweden	2–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 2008	[24]
19	37	6 September 2008	Nueva Condomina, Murcia, Spain	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1–0	1–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification	[25]
20	38	10 September 2008	Estadio Carlos Belmonte, Albacete, Spain	Armenia	2–0	4–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification	[26]
21					3–0
22	39	11 October 2008	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Estonia	Estonia	2–0	3–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification	[27]
23	40	15 October 2008	King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium	Belgium	2–1	2–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification	[28]
24	41	19 November 2008	El Madrigal, Villarreal, Spain	Chile	1–0‡	3–0	Friendly	[29]
25	42	11 February 2009	Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium, Seville, Spain	England	1–0	2–0	Friendly	[30]
26	44	9 June 2009	Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan	Azerbaijan	1–0	6–0	Friendly	[6]
27					2–0
28					3–0
29	45	14 June 2009	Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg, South Africa	New Zealand	5–0	5–0	2009 FIFA Confederations Cup	[31]
30	46	17 June 2009	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein, South Africa	Iraq	1–0	1–0	2009 FIFA Confederations Cup	[32]
31	47	20 June 2009		South Africa	1–0	2–0	2009 FIFA Confederations Cup	[33]
32	51	5 September 2009	Estadio Riazor, A Coruña, Spain	Belgium	2–0	5–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification	[34]
33					5–0
34	54	18 November 2009	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Austria	2–1	5–1	Friendly	[35]
35					3–1
36	55	3 March 2010	Stade de France, Paris, France	France	1–0	2–0	Friendly	[36]
37	56	29 May 2010	Tivoli-Neu, Innsbruck, Austria	Saudi Arabia	1–1	3–2	Friendly	[37]
38	60	21 June 2010	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa	Honduras	1–0	2–0	2010 FIFA World Cup	[38]
39					2–0
40	61	25 June 2010	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa	Chile	1–0	2–1	2010 FIFA World Cup	[39]
41	62	29 June 2010	Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town, South Africa	Portugal	1–0	1–0	2010 FIFA World Cup	[40]
42	63	3 July 2010	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa	Paraguay	1–0	1–0	2010 FIFA World Cup	[41]
43	66	3 September 2010	Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	2–0	4–0	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying	[42]
44	69	12 October 2010	Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland	Scotland	1–0‡	3–2	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying	[43]
45	72	25 March 2011	Nuevo Estadio de Los Cármenes, Granada, Spain	Czech Republic	1–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying	[4]
46					2–1
47	75	7 June 2011	Estadio José Antonio Anzoátegui, Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela	Venezuela	1–0	3–0	Friendly	[44]
48	78	6 September 2011	Estadio Las Gaunas, Logroño, Spain	Liechtenstein	5–0	6–0	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying	[45]
49					6–0
50	80	11 October 2011	Estadio José Rico Pérez, Alicante, Spain	Scotland	3–0	3–1	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying	[46]
51	82	15 November 2011	Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	2–2	2–2	Friendly	[47]
52	83	7 September 2012	Estadio Municipal de Pasarón, Pontevedra, Spain	Saudi Arabia	4–0‡	5–0	Friendly	[48]
53	85	14 November 2012	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama	Panama	2–0	5–1	Friendly	[49]
54	90	20 June 2013	Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Tahiti	4–0	10–0	2013 FIFA Confederations Cup	[50]
55					5–0
56					7–0
57	96	7 June 2014	FedExField, Washington, D.C., United States	El Salvador	1–0	2–0	Friendly	[51]
58					2–0
59	97	23 June 2014	Arena da Baixada, Curitiba, Brazil	Australia	1–0	3–0	2014 FIFA World Cup	[52]

Hat-tricks

No.	Opponent	Goals	Score	Venue	Competition	Date
1	Russia	3 – (1–0', 2–0', 3–0')	4–1	Tivoli-Neu, Innsbruck, Austria	UEFA Euro 2008	10 June 2008
2	Azerbaijan	3 – (1–0', 2–0', 3–0')	6–0	Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan	Friendly	9 June 2009
3	Tahiti	3 – (4–0', 5–0', 7–0')	10–0	Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	2013 FIFA Confederations Cup	20 June 2013

Statistics

As of match played 2 September 2017