Luis de la Fuente: Who is the manager who has taken Spain back to the cusp of glory?

A few years ago, Spain looked a shadow of the dynasty that had so recently conquered and dominated global football. 2012 saw them win their third consecutive major tournament – a feat unmatched in the history of the game. No iteration of La Roja has since lived up to those heady heights, only progressing past the round of 16 once (in 2021’s European Championships)… until now.

Spain weren’t written off by any means before EURO2024 – but they certainly weren’t favourites ahead of the competition. Germany and France were both seen as more likely contenders but one by one, Spain has trampled over those rivals, stunning opponents and crowds and setting pitches alight with their attractive, entertaining play. Now, Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions are the only hurdle left between them and a return to glory.

The man who has taken them here is not decorated in any way most fans will have heard of, nor is he a particular icon of Spanish football as a player. He doesn’t have the major tournament experience of Didier Deschamps, the reputation of Roberto Martínez, or even the playing pedigree of Sylvinho, but he’s quietly set himself at the heart of the Spanish national team pathway and seems to have polished it perfectly. That man is Luis de la Fuente.

De la Fuente doesn’t come from any particularly historic playing background – he has experience in La Liga with Athletic Club (better known as Athletic Bilbao) and Sevilla in the early 1980s, after coming through the youth team and reserves at the former. He amassed more than 250 appearances in the top flight, largely in defence, before moving down to the third tier in 1993 and retiring at 33. He veered into management very soon after, with a couple of short stints at lower-league sides before taking coaching positions away from the first team at his former playing clubs Bilbao and Sevilla. For just over a decade he flitted between club positions, but only really began to shine when he took his first national job.

Ironically for a man who never truly broke into the Spanish national team as a player, de la Fuente has been a fixture of the national coaching setup for a decade and shows absolutely no sign of quitting. Off the back of a short and relatively unsuccessful spell at the helm of Alavés, he was entrusted with training up Spain’s next generation as manager of the under-19s. It was a big leap of faith in someone whose managerial career, while not disastrous by any means, hadn’t yielded heaps of trophies as yet – but it paid off. Just two years after his appointment in 2013, de la Fuente’s teenagers won their age-bracket’s European Championship. A fluke? No. In 2019, in his first competition as U21s coach, his team won their iteration of the competition. And after Luis Enrique’s resignation in the aftermath of defeat to Morocco in the 2022 World Cup, the Spanish higher-ups decided de la Fuente had earned his shot at the top job.

It hasn’t all been plain sailing, but he’s proven them right. His 20 matches so far have yielded 17 wins – including last year’s UEFA Nations League. Now, Spain are in a major tournament final for the first time in more than ten years – and the players who’ve got them there speak glowingly of their coach. Dani Olmo called him a “natural born motivator”, while Mikel Merino said it was “a joy” to have de la Fuente as a coach and that everyone trusted him. The adoration clearly flows both ways – the manager praises his side effusively in post-match press conferences, saying after their qaurterfinal win over Germany: “My players are insatiable. I’m proud to coach players like this.”

You start to understand why there’s such a love-in between de la Fuente and his squad if you take a look back through the scrapbooks at his team sheets from those youth victories. Fabian Ruiz was man of the match in his U21 side’s victory, while Olmo and Mikel Oyarzabal also featured in the team. Flick back another few pages – Rodri, goalkeeper Unai Simón, and recent super-sub Mikel Merino were part of that U19 European Championship-winning side of 2015. Overall, as the Athletic report, over half of this summer’s squad have been managed by de la Fuente at other times – many of them at youth level. Their gratitude for his help in their development to a team on the edge of immortality is clear, with Olomo and Ruiz both thanking him directly in press conferences, as is the collective spirit he has fostered. Pedri perhaps put it best: “The biggest factor is that we are a team and a family.”

It must also help this squad’s confidence that they know their call-ups from de la Fuente are a true vote of confidence. This is not a manager to award anyone a place in the squad based on name or legacy, as Sergio Ramos learned the hard way – he works on merit. Ramos, Spain’s most-capped player of all time, retired from international football after it was made clear to him he would not be part of de la Fuente’s plans. In a statement, the defender seemed to allude to the idea that his dismissal was on the grounds of his age rather than ability – but that argument falls a little flat when you consider that Jesús Navas is now 38, two years older than Ramos when he retired, and de la Fuente trusted him to start a semifinal against France a few days ago. Rather, Ramos’ exclusion (as outrageous as some found it at the time) was the first example of de la Fuente’s ability to make big calls that he felt were in Spain’s best interests – something he continues not to shy away from. The inclusion of Aymeric Laporte after a season in the Saudi Pro League raised eyebrows, but it’s well and truly paid off – Laporte has been central to the defence. It feels silly to say now, but even the inclusion of Lamine Yamal was by no means a guarantee. Calling up a 16-year-old for a European Championship is a brave move – and boy, did it turn out to be the right one.

It’s not just in the personnel department that de la Fuente has shaken things up – Spain’s style of play has changed too. Possession is still a major organ of their game, but it’s not the heart; they can live without it. Much was made of the fact that they thrashed Croatia 3-0 in their opener with a minority of the ball. Likewise, not everything has to go through the middle any more – why would it, when you have Williams and Yamal setting the wings on fire? This team still wants to dominate the centre of the pitch, and have the means to do so through Rodri and Ruiz. But they don’t have to, and that versatility is what has served them so well this tournament. Spain have always had pace and skill – but they haven’t always had the flexibility needed to make those attributes work in the best ways against different opponents. This ability to surprise, adapt, and overcome is what has got them this far – that and a few absolutely stunning goals.

In less than two years, Luis de la Fuente – an unproven prospect in senior football, much less a European Championship – has done what so many before him couldn’t. He’s created a Spain team that harks back to their golden era without clinging desperately to the parts of it that don’t fit anymore. He trusts his players, nurtures young talent, values experienced members – and as a result, the squad trust him right back.

It’s a winning formula. The question is, will Gareth Southgate’s side be able to come up with an answer tonight?

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