Luis Enrique will complete in Qatar the list of coaches who have previously defended the Spanish national team jersey at a World Cup

On 27 May 1934 at 16:30 and at Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa, the Spanish national team made their debut in the World Cup finals.

That day, the team managed to win against a powerful Brazil national team, the team that would be five-time world champions later. This happened with a coach on the bench, Amadeo García de Salazar y Luco, who was a dermatologist.

However, since then most of the times a coach with previous experience in professional football has coached the Spanish national team at a World Cup, as it will be at Qatar 2022 final stage.

Luis Enrique Martínez has worn the Spanish jersey 62 times as a player, winning Olympic gold at Barcelona 92 and has experienced up to three World Cup finals: USA 94', France 98' and Japan-Korea 2002.

In this way, the Asturian coach will become this year the fifth Spanish coach who already knows what it is like to be part of the national team as a player at a World Cup.

Only Javier Clemente and Vicente del Bosque have coached the Spanish national team in more than one World Cup, but due to different circumstances neither of them was able to attend this tournament as an active footballer.

The Spanish-Uruguayan José Emilio Santamaría, who was a coach of the national team in 1982 and previously played in two World Cups as a footballer, heads the prestigious list of coaches. He played in Switzerland 54' as an Uruguayan player and Chile 62', already wearing the Spanish jersey.

Luis Suárez Miramontes - coach in Italy 90' and player in Chile 62' and England 66' -; José Antonio Camacho - coach in 2002 and international player in 1982 and 1986 -, as well as Fernando Hierro, who coached the team in Russia 2018 and previously played in four World Cups (from 1990 to 2002) complete this exclusive list.

Curiously, neither Vicente del Bosque - 2010 and European champion in 2012 - nor Luis Aragonés, winner of Euro 2008, had the opportunity to travel with the Spanish national team to a World Cup wearing the short kit. This is something that José Armando Ufarte, assistant coach to the Sage of Hortaleza and member of the national team that took part in the finals at England 1966, achieved.

Others who fell at the last hurdle were Guillermo Eizaguirre, coach at Brazil 1950 but not called up as a player for Italy 1934, Miguel Muñoz or Ladislao Kubala, who was left out of the decisive qualifying match in 1954 due to bureaucratic difficulties. He was able to go to a World Cup 24 years later as a coach of the national team at Argentina 1978 after playing for three different countries.

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