Spain appoints coach to replace Enrique

Luis de la Fuente has a decade of experience leading Spanish youth teams. Fuente previously led Athletic Bilbao in the 2000s.

During his playing career, Fuente played as a left-back and played for Athletic Bilbao, Sevilla and Alaves clubs. He played a total of 254 La Liga matches and scored 6 goals. Fuente has never played for Spain, but only played for this country's youth teams. He retired at the age of 33, after a season playing in the third division with Alaves and soon began his coaching career in 1999.

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) put its trust in Fuente after ignoring more accomplished coaches than Rafa Benitez, Roberto Martinez or Marcelino Toral. Former Belgium coach Martinez is supported by the majority of Spanish fans, with 38% of the vote in Marca newspaper.

Coach Fuente has 10 years with RFEF. He led the Spain U19 team since 2013, then worked on the U21, U23 team. The most notable achievement of the 61-year-old leader is winning the 2019 European Under-21 Championship and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medal. Unai Simon, Eric Garcia, Pau Torres, Pedri, Olmo and Marco Asensio are the faces in the team. Olympic Games 2020.

In a farewell letter to the team posted on social media on December 8, coach Enrique expressed support for his successor. Enrique and Fuente have been close friends for many years, often talking about young Spanish players. At the 2022 World Cup, Enrique bypassed veteran players like Sergio Ramos and Thiago Alcantara to bring to Qatar many faces in their twenties.

Coach Fuente will make his Spain debut in March 2023, when the team plays Euro 2024 qualifying matches against Norway and Scotland. Fuente's contract is said to be just two years long, ending at the end of 2024.