Spain's sporting 2012 challenges

The coming year presents many important sporting events, notably the London Olympic Games and the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine, where Spain will attempt to become the first national soccer team in history to win three major tournaments in a row. Rafa Nadal will defend his gold medal in London, while Fernando Alonso will try to make his Ferrari a winning car. Alberto Contador faces a court decision before he can focus on regaining his Tour de France title.

European Championships. No team has ever won a Euro-World Cup-Euro treble, and Spain is the bookies' favorite to achieve the feat on July 1. A superlative record in qualifying since lifting the European Championship trophy in Vienna in 2008 - played 18, won 18 - has been marred by hefty post-Johannesburg friendly defeats at the hands of Argentina and Portugal, and, of more concern still, a narrow 1-0 loss to England achieved by Fabio Capello's tactics of stifling the midfield. Spain's play is based on possession and rapid movement of the ball, and Vicente del Bosque will need to work on a plan B - probably involving bustling Athletic forward Fernando Llorente - for when opponents park the proverbial bus. Meanwhile, David Villa, Spain's all-time leading scorer with 51 goals, faces a battle to be fit for the tournament after breaking his leg during December's Club World Cup.

Barcelona and Real Madrid. Barcelona is seeking its fifth European Cup / Champions League victory; Real its 10th, the overriding obsession of its fans and its president, Florentino Pérez. The two remaining Spanish sides are the favorites to lift old Big Ears in Munich's Allianza Arena on May 19 but the owner of that colossal stadium, Bayern, may have a say in the matter. Inter, champions in 2010 under current Real coach José Mourinho, AC Milan, Chelsea and Arsenal are still lurking in the wings. The mighty Manchester clubs, City and United, were eliminated at the group stage. Before Munich can be contemplated, Barça faces Bayer Leverkusen and Real CSKA Moscow in the last 16.

Alonso and Ferrari. The green light of the Formula 1 season will be lit up in Melbourne on March 18, and the checkered flag will wave goodbye to 2012 in Brazil on November 25. In between, 20 Grands Prix, two of them in Spain - Catalonia on May 13 and Valencia on June 24 - and a huge challenge for Fernando Alonso and Ferrari of dethroning Sebastian Vettel and his Red Bull team. When Alonso, world champion in 2005 and 2006 with Renault, and Ferrari joined forces in 2010, great success was forecast. But the emergence of Vettel and the explosion of Red Bull's machinery saw the England-based team dominate in 2010 and 2011. Last year Ferrari limped in third in the constructor's championship with just one win for the season: Alonso's at Silverstone. Ferrari has been working to improve its competiveness and Alonso has been watching developments in the wind tunnel as he plots the return of the drivers' title to the Italian team for the first time since 2007.

Nadal's defense. Having said recently that he had become too predictable, Nadal has renounced the Davis Cup in 2012 to concentrate on defending his Olympic title and on regaining his number one spot, as well as his Wimbledon and US Open titles, from last season's stand-out player, Novak Djokovic. The Serbian number one defeated Nadal in six finals last season, including two on clay, and brushed aside Roger Federer for the loss of just three games at last week's Abu Dhabi exhibition tournament. Accustomed to being the young swashbuckler on the circuit, Nadal now faces an unprecedented challenge in Djokovic, a year his junior, in a reversal of the Spaniard's rivalry with the Swiss Maestro. While Nadal will aim to restore his dominance on the Tour, Djokovic will hope to build on his fine clay court season in 2011 to storm the last bastion of Nadal's hegemony at Roland Garros - and complete a career slam in the act.

Contador's Tour de force. New Year's day saw Alberto Contador begin training for the upcoming season and the three-times Tour de France winner posted a picture of himself online sporting his Saxo Bank team's dark blue jersey. Before he can compete in the colors, Contador must await the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport over his positive clenbuterol test at last year's Tour, a long-running saga that will be resolved in a couple of weeks' time. If absolved of guilt - Contador has always maintained he ingested the substance through tainted meat - he could return to action in the Tour de San Luis in Argentina, before attempting to win a fourth Tour in July.