Luis de la Fuente, the coach who strung together the Euros and the World Cup with Spain
Behind the best generation in Spanish football is a coach who has known how to lead it. Luis de la Fuente won the 2026 World Cup two years after winning Euro 2024, a double within reach of very few managers in history. We review the keys of the coach who returned Spain to the summit of the world.
When Luis de la Fuente took over the Spain bench, many doubted a coach who came up through the youth ranks without a big name in elite club football. Two titles later —Euro 2024 and the 2026 World Cup— the debate is settled: De la Fuente is one of the most successful coaches in the recent history of Spanish football.
His merit is not only winning but how he has done it. De la Fuente has built a team with a crystal-clear identity: control of the ball, high pressing and absolute faith in the finest generation of talent the country has produced, with Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Rodri and the teenage Cubarsí. But he has also shown craft for the hard moments, with a defence that conceded just one goal at the World Cup and decisive impact substitutes, from Mikel Merino in the earlier rounds to Nico Williams and Ferran Torres in the final.
Stringing together a European Championship and a World Cup is a feat within reach of very few. The combination of an irreplaceable generation and a coach who has known how to give it shape, balance and authority has taken Spain into a golden cycle reminiscent of —and perhaps surpassing— that of 2008-2012.
De la Fuente leaves the 2026 World Cup as the coach who returned Spain to the top of world football, with the second star sewn onto the crest. The future will tell how far this project goes, but the present is already history. See Spain's profile and all the tournament data on our site.