The Spanish Football Federation has decided not to renew Luis Enrique’s contract as coach, which expired with the conclusion of the World Cup in Qatar. With Spain’s unexpected elimination by Morocco in the round of 16, events have taken a turn for the worse. The coach did not travel to Barcelona after returning from Doha and, during a face-to-face meeting with the federation’s sporting director José Francisco Molina this morning, told him he would no longer be in charge of the team. The president of the federation, Luis Rubiales, was not present at the meeting. The decision ends the cycle that began in September 2018 and was interrupted for almost a year due to the illness and subsequent death of Luis Enrique’s youngest daughter. Luis Enrique’s continuity has been in the air since he turned down an offer from the federation a year ago. The parties agreed to meet and decide after the conclusion of the World Cup. At that time, the negotiating power was still in the hands of the coach, but this has gradually deteriorated until it was severely weakened by the setback with Morocco.
Relief will be taken by current U-21 coach Luis de la Fuente (Haro, 61), who beat Marcelino García Toral and has already been announced by the federation. The new coach will be presented on Monday 12th at the Ciudad del Fútbol de Las Rozas after his appointment has been approved by the federation’s board. De la Fuente will make his debut on Spanish soil on March 23 against Norway in the first qualifier for Euro 2026 in Germany.
The association justified the decision with the shortage of offers on the market and with the internal promotion of a coach through which most young players who made their debut in the senior national team went. De la Fuente, a former Athletic player with whom he won two leagues (83 and 84) and a cup (84), forged his career as a youth football coach. His CV does not contain any experience in professional clubs. He’s an affable man, unassuming, who has nothing to do with the theatrics of the Gijon coach. He joined the association in 2013 and was crowned European champion with the U19 team in 2015. In 2018 he was a gold medalist with the U18 team at the Mediterranean Games. He was then appointed U-21 coach in July 2018 and a year later in 2019 he was crowned European champion in Italy, earning the fifth win for Spain after beating Germany in the final (2-1). The already absolute coach also won Olympic silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The decision means the end of the Luis Enrique Club de Fútbol, in which the already former national coach has tried to convert the team under an attractive game idea, but also reckless, sustained and through his self-proclaimed leadership and strong personality. After failures at the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, his signing at Euro 2016 was aimed at bringing Spain back to the top of the major competitions with attacking football and delighting disaffected fans again. With reaching the semi-finals in the last Eurocup and finishing second in the Nations League in 2021, the goals were met if not at least met or achieved in Qatar. The bump with Morocco blew everything up.
The spilled magma that was around the figure of Luis Enrique began to erupt after the loss to Japan. The federal dissatisfaction with his fame as a streamer, the old accusation of not having offered himself for sponsorship acts with the frequency Luis Rubiales wanted, the upsurge in his delicate relationship with the press and his authoritarianism and that of some of his technical staff on a day-to-day basis with some federal employees began to strengthen themselves in internal and external discussions. The defeat against the Japanese team also led executives and some players to question the rigidity and fundamentalism with which Luis Enrique implemented his footballing ideas. The footballers decided to set up a meeting to strengthen themselves after seeing the coach’s enormous anger after the encounter with the Japanese team. In the days leading up to the game with Morocco, the coach was more concerned with the football aspects than with the mental reactivation of the group, which he always managed together with psychologist Joaquín Valdés.
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