European country lost number one position in bridge (4)
I believe the answer is:
span
'bridge' is the definition.
(I know that bridge can be written as span)
'european country lost number one position in' is the wordplay.
'european country' becomes 'Spain' (country in Europe).
'lost' suggests deleting specific letters.
'number one position in' becomes 'i' (1st letter of 'in').
'spain' with 'i' taken out is 'SPAN'.
(Other definitions for span that I've seen before include "Distance between bridge abutments" , "Team of two matched oxen" , "Interval in terms of time" , "Steeleye ___ , British folk-rock band, formed 1969" , "Arch across" .)