The storms have passed. In his first six months as the coach of Spain, Luis de la Fuente found himself in the middle of every possible storm in his country. He said he loved bullfighting, when the sport had polarized Spain; “It is freedom, if anyone doesn’t like it, I’m sorry,” he defended. He applauded his boss Luis Rubiales’s ‘I will not resign’ speech, after he had kissed footballer Jenni Hermoso without her consent at the presentation ceremony after the midfielder had helped Spain win the Women’s World Cup. He later apologized, saying it was an “inexcusable human error of judgment.” He said he was a devout Catholic, he goes to church every Sunday and before every game, and he was misconstrued as a sympathizer of the far right.
Fuente was unused to such national attention or outrage in his 40-year-old career as a footballer and coach. He played as a grisly left back with a drooping mustache for Athletic Bilbao, starred in two title triumphs, and then Sevilla, before taking a break to help his mother and sister with their boutique in Haro, a quaint town in the northwest of La Rioja. province in northern Spain with a population of 11,000.
He is so connected to his town that some of his distant cousins who had come to watch the semifinal game against Germany threw small bags of religious symbols towards the coach, which he graciously accepted.
At the stroke of the century, he started coaching regional clubs and graduated to overseeing youth teams of Sevilla and Bilbao. His only top-flight experience was 11 games managing Alaves in 2011, before he took up youth teams of Spain.
Soccer Football – Euro 2024 – Semi Final – Spain v France – Munich Football Arena, Munich, Germany – July 9, 2024 Spain coach Luis de la Fuente celebrates after the match REUTERS/Michaela Stache
His undecorated coaching background swelled his legion of critics, who questioned the federation’s intentions and integrity at a time when Spanish coaches were making waves in overseas leagues. Indifferent results, a loss to Scotland topping them, and sidelining some aging legends, had him walk a tightrope. “I did think I would lose the job soon,” he had once confided. But he didn’t lose hope, or gave up. “I have faith in the depth of talent in the country, because I have been closely involved with them for more than 10 years.”
The best of Spain’s talents have come through him. He has coached the nucleus of the team in junior ranks. Rodri, Unai Simon and Mikel Merino featured in the eleven that lifted the U-19 Euros in 2015. Four years later, he guided a side featuring Fabian Ruiz, Dani Olmo and Mikel Oyarzabal to claim the Under-21 Euros. Ferran Torres, Pedri and Marc Cucurella have all been managed by him at either the under-19 or under-21 ranks. He had coached the 38-year-old Jesus Navas, the oldest member of his squad, in Sevilla’s B team.
Whereas his appointment sparked widespread skepticism in the country, most of the players were excited about the reunion with their guiding light in teenage and early youth, the man they call ‘professor’, because he also takes classes for football coaches at the federation.
“It was like stepping back to our younger days,” Rodri would once say. “I think he’s built a family here, which is basically what has brought us to this point,” Joselu said.
Dani Olmo said “it is all fun here.” Rather than an ideologue, or an all-achieved legend, here was a more genial, fatherly figure, who according to Marca, did not torture players with long power-point presentations. Players relax by playing chess and La Pocha, a Spanish card game, or cycle in the countryside, or play golf. “He is a great listener, a kind human,” Unai Simon had once said.
After every match, he texts the non-squad staff members like the groundsmen, security workers or the kitchen staff. Sometimes, he gives them small gifts too. “A lot of work goes into making a successful team, and their efforts often go unnoticed,” he once told AS.
But beneath the genial and laid-back exterior is a tough manager, with his own convictions. He leads by example, hitting the gym more frequently than he had in his playing days, he says. He is unafraid to make tough calls. His insistence in overlooking the legendary defender Sergio Ramos provoked dissent, there was pressure from the association too, but he did not relent. Same with playmaker Isco. He axed players who nursed grudges against him in the club circuit — like Real Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballos and Gavi, the Barcelona counterpart. He did not heed the requests of big clubs to exempt star players for national duties, like Gavi before a Euro 2024 qualifying game against Georgia. He got injured in that game, but Fuente stuck to his stand.
The glitter of big players in big clubs didn’t blur his judgment of players or picking only those that suited his vision and playing style. He broke the Barcelona-Real Madrid duopoly in the national team. Only eight of the 26 are from the El Clasico rivals, of which only three are starters, and only two would likely start in the final (Lamine Yamal and Dani Carvajal) in the final against England. In comparison, nine of them comprised the 2012 champions. Six of them play outside the La Liga — his defensive rock Aymeric Laporte competes in the Saudi Pro League, but that was rarely a factor in snubbing him. “You have to pick your best players, wherever they are playing. My merit is choosing the players, the rest is theirs and the coaching staff’s. I know them very well, like no one else,” he said after beating France.
It’s the most multicultural Spanish team too — Williams and Yamal have African descent; he fast-tracked Yamal fearing Morocco, from where his father hails, would lure him. Laporte has French roots, represented France in U-21s; nine are from the Basque country, historically a minority in the squad.
Soccer Football – Euro 2024 – Semi Final – Spain v France – Munich Football Arena, Munich, Germany – July 9, 2024 Spain’s Nacho and Jesus Navas with coach Luis de la Fuente after Lamine Yamal scores their first goal REUTERS/Michaela Stache
Changing playing style
He has broken the perception of the Spanish manager as a dogmatic idealist. At the heart of his tactics, the Spanish pulse of possession football beats. But he has added other fascinating layers too, like increasing the width of the field by premising his game on two effervescent wingers, Yamal and Nico Williams, whereas his possession-football-fixated predecessor Luis Enrique weaved his group around midfielder Pedri. The aversion for long balls has vanished, as has intolerance for dribbling and individual flair. Pedri explains this: “It is not the case that we always need to keep loyal to one style of playing, retaining possession and then losing the game.” Spain enjoyed their worst possession in 20 years in the game against Croatia, but they won 3-0.
Thus, in a short period, he has enabled a fine core of masterful technicians to blossom, brought to the foreground a group of unassuming and limelight-immune footballers, a group sculpted in his own image of modesty and humility, forging a sense of togetherness. in the football squad of a deeply-polarised country, lying low as Williams said after beating Italy. And now the storms have passed and there is calm that only success could bring.