East Rutherford, United States – July 19: coach Luis de la Fuente Castillo of Spain celebrates with the Trophy after winning the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final match between Spain and Argentina at New York New Jersey Stadium on July 19, 2026 in East Rutherford, United States. (Photo by Harry Langer/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images)
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When Luis de la Fuente was appointed Spain’s head coach in December 2022, two days after Luis Enrique left the job following a round-of-16 exit at the Qatar World Cup, many outside of Spain asked a simple question: who?
He was a 61-year-old whose most senior coaching job outside of the Spanish soccer federation’s youth system came in the third tier and lasted only 11 games. With no experience at senior international level, stepping into one of the most scrutinized jobs in world football seemed a gamble. Some in Spanish soccer questioned the appointment, accusing it of lacking ambition following a stint with one of the game’s most decorated coaches.
Three and a half years later, De la Fuente has delivered Spain’s most successful stretch in over a decade: the 2023 UEFA Nations League, the 2024 European Championship, and now the 2026 World Cup.
A career built from the bottom up
De la Fuente was born in Haro, a small town in La Rioja in northern Spain best known for its wineries, on June 21, 1961. He played as a left-back, coming up through the Athletic Bilbao academy from 1976. His senior playing career ran from 1981 to 1994 across two spells at Athletic, a stint at Sevilla, and a final season at Alavés. He made 254 appearances in La Liga and scored six goals, winning two league titles with Athletic including the 1984 league and Copa del Rey double.
Retirement brought an immediate move into coaching, starting well below the elite level. He managed Portugalete and Aurrerá de Vitoria in the Spanish regional leagues through the late 1990s and early 2000s, then returned to his old clubs to run their academies, first at Sevilla’s youth setup from 2001 to 2005, then at Athletic Bilbao’s, before taking charge of Bilbao Athletic, the reserve side, across two separate spells.
In 2011, de la Fuente got his one shot at a senior club job, taking over at Alavés in the Spanish third tier. It did not go well. He was sacked in October 2011 after just eleven games in charge, with the club’s board citing poor results and a lack of improvement in performances. It was a setback that kept him out of coaching for close to two years, and it stands as the one senior managerial failure on an otherwise unbroken run of success.
That stint proved to be the last time De la Fuente managed outside the structure of the Spanish federation. In 2013, the RFEF brought him in to take charge of the Spain U19 team, a role that put him on a decade-long track most senior national coaches never follow.
RIFU, MIYAGI, JAPAN – JULY 31: Luis de la Fuente, Head Coach of Team Spain looks on prior to the Men’s Quarter Final match between Spain and Cote d’Ivoire on day eight of the Women’s QuarterFinal match during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Miyagi Stadium on July 31, 2021 in Rifu, Miyagi, Japan. (Photo by Alex Livesey – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
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Building the generation he would later lead
Over the following nine years, De la Fuente won the European U19 Championship in 2015, the European U21 Championship in 2019, and led Spain’s Olympic team to a silver medal at the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021. Along the way, he coached a large share of the players who would go on to form Spain’s senior core, working with Rodri, Fabián Ruiz, Mikel Merino, and Unai Simón as teenagers, years before any of them wore the senior shirt.
That pipeline is the foundation of his senior appointment. When the RFEF needed a successor to Luis Enrique after Spain’s last-16 exit to Morocco at the 2022 World Cup, it promoted from within rather than pursuing a bigger name from outside the federation. De la Fuente already knew the players, the staff, and the federation’s expectations, having worked with several of his eventual World Cup squad since they were 15 years old.
Two major titles in two years
The results came quickly. Spain won the 2023 Nations League in De la Fuente’s first tournament in charge. The following summer, Spain went unbeaten through Euro 2024, beating Germany in the quarterfinals, France in the semifinals, and England in the final in Berlin. It was Spain’s first European Championship since 2012 and the country’s fourth overall, extending its record as the competition’s most successful nation.
The RFEF extended his contract through 2028 in January 2025, a vote of confidence delivered before the World Cup campaign had even started. Spain lost the 2025 Nations League final to Portugal on penalties, its first defeat of note under De la Fuente in a major final, but the setback did nothing to unsettle the federation’s plan.
This summer reached the pinnacle as De la Fuente became the oldest coach to win the World Cup at the age of 65, reflecting his status as a late bloomer in a coaching career which has allowed him to reach the very top.
Sunday’s World Cup win in New Jersey completes a run that few managers anywhere have matched: a Nations League title, a European Championship, and a World Cup, all within four years of taking his first senior job.
It was perhaps even sweeter for the coach as Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni once studied under De la Fuente during a UEFA coaching course in Spain, reflecting their contrasting methods of getting to the top.
EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY – JULY 19: Lionel Scaloni, Head Coach of Argentina, interacts with Luis De La Fuente, Head Coach of Spain, before the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final match between Spain and Argentina at New York New Jersey Stadium on July 19, 2026 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Tullio Puglia – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
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Controversies and strong player relationships
De la Fuente’s tenure has not been free of controversy tied to the federation itself. In September 2023, days after then-RFEF president Luis Rubiales forcibly kissed forward Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the medal ceremony for Spain’s Women’s World Cup win, de la Fuente was seen applauding Rubiales at an emergency federation assembly where Rubiales refused to resign. De la Fuente apologized within days, calling the moment “inexcusable”.
He was called to testify as a witness at Rubiales’ criminal trial in February 2025, where prosecutors sought jail time over the kiss and alleged efforts to pressure Hermoso into downplaying it. De la Fuente told the court he had been unaware of the scandal’s scale on the flight home from Sydney and denied taking part in federation discussions about managing the fallout, saying he had only “talked about football” in his meetings at the federation in the days that followed. Rubiales was convicted later that month, though De la Fuente himself was never accused of wrongdoing beyond the applause.
Spain’s players have remained loyal and have their own way of showing loyalty to De la Fuente. In the early stages of the World Cup, defender Marc Cucurella said on Spanish radio that he would get the coach’s face tattooed on his arm if Spain won the trophy, “for everything he has done for us”. Other squad members, including Borja Iglesias and Álex Baena, were reported to be considering similar tributes.
After Sunday’s win, De la Fuente held Cucurella to it. “I am too old for tattoos, but my players are men of their word and I know they will stick to their word,” he told reporters. “They made a mistake, and they will stick to it. I am not that ugly.” Asked where on his body he would like to see it, De la Fuente laughed and suggested “a part of the body where it is not visible”.
De la Fuente’s relationship with his squad goes back further than most international managers ever get to build. Midfielder Álex Baena, who came through De la Fuente’s youth setups before making Spain’s senior squad, described him as an intuitive coach who understands younger generations. “Luis always gives us that calm, that confidence we need in every moment,” Baena said. “And I think we’re all very, very proud and happy that he’s here with us.”
The coach has returned that loyalty in public. When critics questioned his squad selections during Euro 2024, De la Fuente pushed back directly. “I know these footballers and I make my decisions based on how much I know them,” he told the media in a press conference.
De la Fuente’s appointment was, in effect, a bet on institutional continuity over reputation. The RFEF chose a coach who had already built relationships with its next generation of players over a decade of youth-team work, rather than resetting with an outside hire after a disappointing World Cup.
That bet has paid off in silverware, but also with a development pipeline that produced not just players but the coach who would lead them to two major titles.
