Spain extend De la Fuente’s contract until 2032 after World Cup triumph
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MADRID, Sept 21 : When Luis de la Fuente took the Spanish national team job, he was the quiet federation man after the noise and glitz of Luis Enrique, a coach many fans had to Google and some media dubbed “Luis de la Who?”.
Three trophies, 50 matches and one World Cup later, the once-mocking question has a resounding answer: he is the future.
De la Fuente has signed a six-year extension until the end of the 2032 European Championship, the Spanish FA (RFEF) said on Monday after ratifying his contract at an executive meeting.
The deal, agreed during the triumphant World Cup campaign, is the longest tenure ever approved for a Spain head coach and takes him through the 2028 European Championship, 2030 World Cup and 2032 European Championship.
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According to sources close to the federation, it also includes a considerable pay rise — a fitting reward for a man who has turned patience, planning and a decade of academy graft into Spain’s most dominant spell in generations.
De la Fuente has delivered the 2023 Nations League, the 2024 European Championship and the 2026 World Cup. The only trophy to slip away was the less important 2025 Nations League, which Spain lost to Portugal on penalties.
Spain are also on the longest unbeaten run in their history, 38 matches without defeat.
On Monday, under Madrid’s scorching heat at the RFEF’s Ciudad del Futbol training ground, De la Fuente sat alongside federation president Rafael Louzan and the trophies that trace his rise from youth-team craftsman to architect of the side everyone is trying to catch.
His path was never glamorous. A former hard-working full back at Athletic Bilbao, De la Fuente built his coaching life away from club football’s glare, joining the RFEF in 2013 and working his way through Spain’s youth system.
That background, once used against him, became his greatest strength. Rodri, Unai Simon and Mikel Merino were part of his European Under-19 champions in 2015. Merino, Mikel Oyarzabal, Dani Olmo and Fabian Ruiz later shared Under-21 success with him, while Pedri, Martin Zubimendi and Marc Cucurella were part of Spain’s Olympic silver-medal campaign in Tokyo.
By the time he inherited the senior side in December 2022 after Spain’s disappointing World Cup in Qatar, De la Fuente already knew the habits and hearts of a generation.
“During the 2024 Euros, we began to emphasise a word that gave us a great deal of security, confidence and strength — family. We want the Spanish national team to be a family and that is honestly how we feel,” he said on Monday.
Yet De la Fuente insisted this was not a full stop but a starting whistle.
“We are not content with what we have achieved so far,” he said. “The best is yet to come.”
The man once presented as a question has become Spain’s long-term answer.
Source: Reuters
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