Less than an hour after making Luis Enrique’s departure official as coach of the Spanish team, the Football Federation of that country announced the successor to the former Real Madrid and Barcelona midfielder. This is an old acquaintance in the Youth area: Luis de la Fuente.
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It was one of the names being considered to succeed Luis Enrique in the event that he did not continue. Finally, that came to fruition and the chosen one was until today DT of the Sub 21. He fought hand in hand with Marcelino (ex A. Bilbao) and Roberto Martínez, already a former coach of the Belgium team.
De la Fuente is 61 years old (AFP). It is expected that the Board of Directors of the RFEF confirm De la Fuente (a formal question) so that he can later be presented as the new coach. When will he lead his first game?
THE STATEMENT OF THE SPANISH FEDERATION
The RFEF has chosen Luis de la Fuente as the new absolute national coach. The sports director, José Francisco Molina, has forwarded a report to the president, Luis Rubiales, in which he recommends the choice of the coach from La Rioja, until now U-21 coach, to lead the new stage that begins after the World Cup in Qatar.
Molina will present the report for his appointment next Monday, December 12, to the RFEF board of directors.
Luis de la Fuente (Haro, 1961) has managed successfully in the lower categories of the National Team since his arrival at the RFEF. In 2015, he was proclaimed European champion with the under-19 team. In 2018, he was a gold medalist at the Mediterranean Games with the under-18 team. Subsequently, in July 2018 he was named U-21 coach and a year later, in 2019, he was proclaimed European champion in Italy, winning the fifth win for Spain after beating Germany in the final (2-1). The coach is also an Olympic silver medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Anecdotally, De la Fuente has to his credit a match for the National Team in June 2021 against Lithuania in Butarque at the gates of Euro 2020 when the national team was confined by Covid protocol.
The new coach will make his debut in March in Germany’s Euro 2024 qualifying phase and will direct their first two matches against Norway and Scotland.
Once his appointment was ratified by the board of directors, Luis de la Fuente would be presented on Monday, December 12 at 12:30 p.m. in the Luis Aragonés room of the Ciudad del Fútbol.
