Spain have moved quickly to appoint a successor to outgoing manager Luis Enrique.
La Roja announced on Thursday morning that Enrique will step down from his role following Spain’s last 16 elimination at the 2022 World Cup in Morocco.
And within an hour of that announcement, they confirmed that Luis de la Fuente would be promoted from his role as head coach of the under-21 team, with further confirmation to follow on Monday.
A statement read: “The RFEF has chosen Luis de la Fuente as the new absolute national coach. The sporting director, Jose Francisco Molina, has sent a report to president Luis Rubiales, in which he has appointed coach La recommended the selection of Rioja is the U21 coach so far to lead the new phase that begins after the World Cup in Qatar.
“Molina will present his appointment report to the RFEF Board of Directors next Monday, December 12.
“Luis de la Fuente has been successful in the lower categories of the national team since his arrival at the RFEF. In 2015, he was named European Champion with the U-19 team. In 2018, he won the Mediterranean Games. I was a gold medalist with the U-18 team. Then, in July 2018, he was named the U-21 coach and a year later, in 2019, he was crowned European champion in Italy, beating Germany in the final. After a fifth win for Spain (2-1), the coach is also an Olympic silver medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
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“Critically, De La Fuente is to be credited with a match for the national team in June 2021 against Lithuania in Butark on the eve of Euro 2020 when the national team was restricted by the Covid protocol.
“The new coach will make his debut in Germany’s Euro 2024 qualifying phase in March and will take charge of their first two matches against Norway and Scotland.
“After his appointment has been ratified by the Board of Directors, Luis de la Fuente will be presented on Monday December 12 at 12:30 p.m. in the Luis Aragones Room of the Ciudad del Futbol.”