Spain coach Luis de la Fuente hopes to tune out noise of RFEF crisis ahead of Euro 2024
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Spain coach Luis de la Fuente during an interview at the Spanish Football Federation headquarters in Las Rozas, outside Madrid, on May 13.
PHOTO: REUTERS
MADRID – The way for the Spanish men’s team to weather the storm around their football federation is to stick together, tune out the noise and concentrate on their performances at Euro 2024, coach Luis de la Fuente said.
As he braces for the challenge of a tough Group B alongside Croatia, European champions Italy and Albania in Germany, the 62-year-old and his players have had to deal with the furore surrounding the scandal-ridden Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).
With a corruption probe underway and the fallout from the unsolicited kiss former RFEF chief Luis Rubiales gave player Jennifer Hermoso after Spain won the 2023 Women's World Cup, the government created a special committee two weeks ago to oversee the governing body until it holds new elections.
“We have to concern ourselves with purely, strictly sporting matters,” de la Fuente said on May 13. “We have to focus on what we can control. This is very, very basic, but it’s very real. Stick to football.
“I’m concerned about how the facilities are going to be, the training camp, the pitches, the travel... And on the pitch, because the players know that we are going to be judged for what we do on the pitch.
“Everything else, all the media noise that exists around us, is not going to help us.”
The Spaniard was clear that he wants to focus only on football, and said it will be even more helpful to stick to a philosophy that he has always insisted on – a player’s character and values are as important as form and talent.
“I want people around me, good people who are willing to work, willing to sacrifice themselves for the person next to them, who are supportive,” he added. “When you have to manage a group of people, it is much easier to work with those kind of people than with others who can cause you problems. In such a short competition, a step backwards can almost be definitive. We can’t afford that.”
To apply his philosophy, de la Fuente has the advantage of knowing many of the players really well.
He joined the RFEF in 2013 as the Under-15 coach and has worked with players like Pedri, Mikel Oyarzabal, Fabian Ruiz, Mikel Merino, Marco Asensio and Dani Olmo.
He then won the European Championship with the U-19 side in 2015 and U-21 in 2019, before claiming the Uefa Nations League title in 2023 with many of the players who will make the Euro 2024 squad which he will announce on May 20.
With Barcelona teenagers Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi breaking out and veterans like Real Madrid’s Dani Carvajal and Atletico Madrid’s Alvaro Morata still delivering, de la Fuente believes he has a talented group at his disposal with the perfect mix of youth and experience.
“But to become a champion you need to play as a team,” he warned. “A team that is cohesive, united, a homogeneous group that have a common goal and a clear objective.
“Now let football do the talking and let the talented footballers be the real stars of this story, the stars on the pitch.” REUTERS
