Spain, which had a shocking round of 16 elimination at the World Cup in Qatar, appointed Luis de la Fuente, who led the silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, as a new coach.

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) announced the appointment of De La Fuente on its official website on the 12th (Korean time). RFEF announced that “at a meeting of the board of directors, it had approved the report submitted by the sports management appointing De la Fuente as national team coach”.

De la Fuente has officially taken over as coach of the Spanish national team.

Spain had a disappointing performance at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, being eliminated in the round of 16.

They were placed in the Group of Death along with Germany, Japan and Costa Rica. In the first game, they defeated Costa Rica 7-0, showing off 안전놀이터 the power of the Invincible Armada, but after drawing with Germany, they lost 1-2 to Japan and advanced to the round of 16 as second place in the group.

In the round of 16, they met Morocco, a team of storms, and lost in a penalty shootout without scoring a single goal. Former coach Luis Enrique, who received a lot of criticism for his performance, took responsibility and stepped down as manager.

RFEF raised expectations, saying, “After the World Cup in Qatar, the need for change was felt. De la Fuente will give the national team a new impetus.”

De la Fuente led the U21 team and last summer coached the Olympic team, leading Spain to a silver medal.

From 2013 to 2018, he also took charge of the U19 national team. Because of this, he is evaluated as a manager who knows better than anyone else about talented young players in Spain.

Meanwhile, Spain will play two Euro 2024 qualifying matches in Germany next March. De la Puente’s debut as manager of the A national team will likely be against Norway.