Post by Горан Budimirov

Before embarking on his career with the Spanish national team, the last club Luis de la Fuente managed was Deportivo Alavés. In 2011, the manager took charge of the first team for the 2011/12 season in Segunda División B (third tier). It was a very special challenge for him, as it was the club where he had retired as a player. However, it did not go as he had imagined: his tenure lasted barely five matches. Due to poor results, the board, who had appointed him in July, sacked him in October. “He’s quite a character, very funny and a really nice bloke. But when it came to training drills and tactical discussions, there was certainly room for improvement,” a former player from Bilbao Athletic – the reserve team of Athletic Club, where he also served as manager – told Relevo. The truth is that almost two years after his disappointing spell at Alavés, de la Fuente joined the Royal Spanish Football Federation as a youth coach. He worked with the Under-19s, Under-21s and Under-23s, and in 2022, following the World Cup in Qatar, he took charge of the senior Spanish national team. Since then, he has won a Nations League title, a European Championship and is now a World Cup finalist. The twists and turns of football. Or perhaps: the twists and turns of life.