Madrid, Jan 27 (IANS) Spain have extended European Championship winning head coach Luis de la Fuente’s contract till 2028.
The extension results in the 63-year old will lead the national team in upcoming major tournaments such as the UEFA Nations League finals, the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the European Championships slated to be held in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland in June 2028.
“The RFEF is committed to the continuity of the coach who led Spain to victory in the last edition of the European Championship and the UEFA Nations League,” the federation announced on X.
The renewal will be presented publicly on Monday at the Ciudad del Futbol.The president of the RFEF himself, Rafael Louzan, will accompany the newly renewed national coach and his coaching staff during the official ceremony.
The Spaniard was appointed at the helm of Spanish football in 2022. He has since won the first Nations League two years ago in Netherlands and last summer’s European Championships in Germany, unleashing a wave of affection, admiration and recognition among football fans and professionals alike, with nominations for best coach in the world at FIFA’s The Best awards and at the Ballon d’Or gala, as well as the award for best coach granted by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics.
De la Fuente Castillo was a professional footballer with clubs of the stature of Sevilla FC, Deportivo Alaves and Athletic Club, with whom he won the League, Cup and Super Cup titles, as well as donning the national team shirt in the Under-18, Under-21 and Olympic categories.
Since his retirement from active football, he has coached many of the young talents from all the ranks of Spanish football, something which paved the way for his progress at the RFEF as coach in different categories of the national team, achieving success at the European Under-19 (2015), Under-21 (2019) championships, as well as the gold medal at the Mediterranean Games (2018) and the silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
–IANS
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