Luis de la Fuente is a Spanish-born football manager and former footballer who is the manager of the Spain national team.
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Early life and early career
Born in Haro, in the province of Rioja, Fuente started playing football in Bilbao. His father was a member of Atletic.
When he was 14, he was spotted by one of the legendary players of the Basque club, Piru Gainza.
He trained in the Basque club before making his first team debut at the age of 19.
He was a left-back for Atletic Bilbao with whom he won two La Liga titles in 1982-83 and 1983-84 and the Copa del Rey.
He then joined Sevilla. After four years with Sevilla, he returned to Bilbao. He spent a season with Alaves before hanging up his boots in 1994 at the age of 34.
Married life and kids
De la Fuente lives a private life out of the spotlight. There is no information about his wife and children.
Age
He was born on the 21st of June, 1961. He is currently 62 years old.
Net Worth
His net worth is estimated to be around $10 million.
His managerial career
Soon after his retirement, he started his coaching career. He started with Portugalete in the regional leagues.
He remained there for three seasons before joining Sevilla FC's youth club.
After five seasons with the youth team, he returned to Athletic Bilbao where he took over the youth team followed by the reserve team in the third division.
He also had a brief stint at Alaves in the third division but was fired just after nine days.
In 2013, he joined the Royal Spanish Football Federation and the Spanish national team initially to work with the under-19 team as their manager.
Two years later, he lifted the UEFA European Championship in Greece.
In 2018, he took over the under-21 side after Albert Celades resigned to join Julen Lopetegui at Real Madrid.
His first victory with the team was the 2019 European Championship in Italy.
Besides that, he led Spain at the 2020 Olympic Games, where they won the silver medal, losing 2-1 to Brazil in the final.
He also led the country to its first-ever victory in the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League, defeating Croatia.
His dream is to coach Lionel Messi for Spain
De la Fuente has a dream of coaching football legend Lionel Messi for the Spain national team.
During a quick-fire round segment of an interview, when he was asked which player he would like to sign for the Spanish national team, he instantly replied Lionel Messi with a laugh.
Messi is undoubtedly one of the best players in the world, but Luis doesn't think he is the goat.
He took the name of Dutch icon Johan Cyruff when asked who, according to him, is the best player in history.
His mantras for success
"To evolve without giving up our style" is the mantra he applies in coaching. He believes talent is not enough.
According to him, hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.
At the Under-21 European Championship, he gave a clear and simple message, and that was to put in heart, work, effort, and above all, togetherness, which meant that exceptional individuals should submit to the good of the collective.
De la Fuente thinks that it's important to know how their player thinks and how they feel at any given moment.
He said his experience as a player at Athletic Bilbao, Sevilla, and Alaves gave him something to take into his coaching.
As a player, he used to observe how his teammates reacted to the situations that the coaches put them in.
Now, as a coach, he tries to look for something that the players can relate to, and although it might not work for every player or every team, he still tries to find it, he said.