A federation technician. Neither Marcelinois robert martinezrecently resigned from the Belgian team, nor Quique Sánchez Flores. Luis Rubialesthe president of the Spanish soccer federation, looked down, discovered the kind and conciliatory figure of Louis of the Sourcecurrent U-21 coach (nearly 80% of the players who are now in the senior team have passed through his hands), and gave him the enormous responsibility of being the coach that succeeds Luis Enrique. No more. No less.
???? OFFICIAL | The @RFEF Trust Luis de la Fuente as the new national coach @SEFutbol
✏️ The board of directors must approve the appointment next Monday
???? https://t.co/Pj4Wf6McMx#VamosEspaña pic.twitter.com/V3iIvR5EUx
— RFEF (@rfef) December 8, 2022
In its statement, the RFEF explains that 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 starts after the World Cup in Qatar”. His presentation will take place this coming Monday at 12:30 p.m. in the Luis Aragonés room at Ciudad del Fútbol.
De la Fuente is 61 years old and has been working in Las Rozas, the FEF sports city, for almost a decade. He embodies the same transit that Luis Suárez or Iñaki Sáez (from the sub-21 to the absolute) had in their day without forgetting the experience of Vicente Miera (coach who won Olympic gold in Barcelona-92 and later sat on the bench more discussed in the country).
He played for Athletic
Riojan. He was born in Haro (June 21, 1961). Left-back who entered Lezama ascending the lower categories until he made his debut with the Athletic first team (October 1980), where he spent seven seasons winning the League (1983-1984) in which the barge crossed the Bilbao estuary. Then he went to Sevilla (four years, two as a starter; two, not) before returning to the old San Mamés, the penultimate step of his retirement that took place at Alavés (1994), who was playing in Second B at the time.
Ephemeral passage through professional football
From there, he undid his initial path as a coach, taking his first steps at Portugalete and Aurrera de Vitoria before returning to Sevilla to take charge of the youth team. The same position he held at Athlétic, where he became coach of Bilbao Athlétic (2009-2011), a prologue to his ephemeral passage through professional football seen from the bench. He barely lasted nine games at Alavés, from Segunda B. Although, in reality, he spent 11 games on the Alava bench, with a poor balance (four wins, three draws and four losses), which condemned him to dismissal in October 2011. There his time in the elite ended until a couple of years later he found a place in the structure of the federation.
Therefore, Luis de la Fuente returned to his work with young people, where he is a true specialist as his successes prove: European champion with the U-19 team (2015), European champion with the U-21 team ( 2019) and Olympic silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics (2021). There he has shaped the base of the team that Luis Enrique has given flight.
affable attitude
The coach from La Rioja has done it from an affable position, far from the volcanic spirit that characterizes the Asturian coach. Dealing closely with the Madrid press, quite the opposite of Luis Enrique, with a conciliatory message he has built his federative career away from the spotlight.
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In 2013, he came to the bench of the sub-19; in 2018 he replaced Albert Celades in the sub-21 and in 2022 he appears at the top of it. As a curiosity, De la Fuente counts to his credit the direction of a match of the senior team in June 2021 against Lithuania in Butarque at the gates of Euro 2020 when the national team was confined by Covid protocol.
He is the new coach of Spain. The coach who comes after Luis Enrique.