Luis de la Fuente: ‘I am very happy and I hope this never ends’.
Luis de la Fuente (born in Haro, 21 June 1961) today experienced one of the most memorable afternoons since he was appointed head of the Spanish national football team on 12 December 2022. Since then, his good work has earned him the affection, admiration and recognition of football fans and professionals alike.
European Champion in Germany and UEFA Nations League winner with the senior national team, European Under-21 champion (2019) and European Under-17 champion (2015), with the four titles won in his successful career at the head of the national team presiding over the ceremony, on the day on which his renewal until the end of the European Championships to be played in 2028 was announced, Luis de la Fuente said he was ‘very happy and enjoying this great surprise, I hope this never ends,’ he added.
‘This has to serve as motivation for constant improvement and the most important thing is that we have fantastic raw materials, with an insatiable winning mentality, a wonderful working spirit and a place we feel at home, the RFEF, which always supports and protects us,’ said the national coach at the start of the event.
The president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, Rafael Louzán, posed with Luis de la Fuente wearing a shirt with his name and the number 2028 printed on the back. Louzán began his speech by talking about the human qualities of his head coach: ‘We were just the other day signing the new contract and he thought to remind me of an important issue, that he has a coaching team that have a contract until only 2026, and that they have to stay with him until 2028, something that dignifies him and highlights his human quality in relation to his team’. "We have great challenges ahead of us, first of all the Nations League but, more than anything, the great challenge of getting the country excited and united again. What unites this country the most is probably the Spanish national team with Luis de la Fuente and all his team’, he continued.
Rafael Louzán: ‘Football is our great ambassador around the world and we must continue in our work to make a transparent federation, totally united with Spanish society and football players, and Luis represents precisely all of this and these great values that football has’.
The RFEF president referred to the coach's renewal: ‘It is a source of pride and satisfaction for me and for my entire management team to be here today finishing off what we promised. I want to wish him the best of luck because Luis' luck will be Spain's fortune, it will be the RFEF's joy and I also want to send the same message to the national coach, Montse Tomé, who is here today, so that we continue working in this spirit and get the results that Spain deserves. Spain is very big and football makes us even bigger’, Louzán stressed.
‘Luis' fortune will be Spain's luck and that of the RFEF.
De la Fuente expressed his gratitude for the words of the RFEF president and for the work of what he defined as ‘a united family that works around the national team. We will try to be up to the task and I believe we will fight for very important things going forward’, he concluded.
He was accompanied on stage in the Salón Luis Aragonés at the Ciudad del Fútbol in Las Rozas by family, friends and former teammates with whom he has coincided throughout his personal and professional life and who wanted to share this moment with him. The coach’s nephew, also called Luis de la Fuente, praised his ‘work, his way of being, everything he has achieved and what is yet to come’. Miguel de Andrés, his flatmate at Athletic Club, praised his role as a player and coach: ‘We all saw him as a future coach, all his friends are delighted’. Also present was Pablo Blanco, a team-mate during his time at Sevilla FC, proud to have had him during his first coaching role, along with Antonio Valle, Luis' assistant coach at Sevilla youth team, who did not want to miss this event either. Both recalled those early days, which they described as ‘spectacular and a marvellous period’. On stage and amidst laughter, they told anecdotes and recalled unforgettable moments, including the beginnings of Jesús Navas. Fernando Riaño, friend of Luis de la Fuente, seven times Paralympic triathlon world champion and witness to the successes of the Haro coach in the youth ranks, closed off an emotional first part of the event that was full of surprises, memories and emotion. ‘I loved him, I admired him and it is an honour for me to be here with him today. He is a person of art, science and values, above all values’, he said.
In the ‘affection stand’, as its members called the seats that de la Fuente had next to him on the stage during this special event, the members of his coaching staff were also present, those who have accompanied him over these recent successful years at the helm of the Spanish national team, winning a European Championships and a UEFA Nations League: Pablo Amo (assistant coach), Juan José González (assistant coach), Miguel Ángel España (goalkeeping coach), Carlos Cruz (fitness coach), Pablo Peña (analysis coordinator) and Javier López Vallejo (psychologist). The coach dedicated some affectionate words to all of them: ‘Without this group of friends, or family (as they have become), it would be impossible. I wouldn't have been able to walk without them, they have always supported me, they know a lot about football and I need them to be able to live up to the demands of a nation, so I thank you all’. The words team and family have accompanied him in his successful career at the helm of the country’s favourite team.
At the end of the event, the coach spoke to the media in a Luis Aragonés Hall full of affection and admiration at the contract renewal event and tribute to national coach Luis de la Fuente.
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