Depicts the portrait of Juan Sebastián Elcano in the background of a globe. Country name and date of the issue on the right. The logo of the Royal Spanish Mint (crowned letter M) on the left. The dates of the expedition, name and motto of the naval commander below. Surrounded by the twelve stars of Europe.

Juan Sebastián Elcano (1486/1487–1526) was a Castilian navigator of Basque origin best known for having completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth in the ship Victoria on the Magellan expedition to the Spice Islands. He received recognition for his achievement by the emperor Charles V with the coat of arms reading "primus circumdedisti me" ("You went around me first" in Latin).

Following his success, the emperor entrusted him with another large expedition to the Spice Islands headed by a nobleman, García Jofre de Loaisa, which could not complete its goal. Elcano died on the Pacific Ocean during this venture.

A geographical map of Western Europe spans the outer ring and inner core on the right side of the coin. The inscription 2 EURO is superimposed over the map of Europe, with the numeral “2” located in an open field representing the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

12 stars are located on the right side of the outer ring, with six stars atop the map of Europe and six stars below it; six vertical stripes cut across the inner core of the coin, visually connecting the upper and lower star segments.

Luc Luycx, a designer at the Royal Belgian Mint, designed the Euro’s common reverse; his initials, LL, are seen on the right side of the design, just under the “O” in “EURO.”

The sequence "2 ★ ★" repeated six times alternately upright and inverted