"I am not that ugly," Luis De La Fuente told reporters after Spain's World Cup win in New Jersey. He was responding to Marc Cucurella's promise to tattoo his coach's face on his arm if Spain lifted the trophy. They did. And De La Fuente, at 65, became the oldest manager ever to win a World Cup.
That detail captures something about this man's story. It's not the kind of coaching career you blueprint. He was sacked after eleven games at a third-division club in 2011, spent nearly two years out of the game, and only returned because Spain's youth federation gave him a second shot. Fast forward to 2026, and he's delivered a Nations League, a European Championship, and a World Cup — all within four years of his first senior international appointment.
Building the squad before he coached it
The reason De La Fuente's tenure worked where others might have failed is simple: he already knew these players. Between 2013 and 2022, he coached Spain's U19 and U21 teams, winning the European U19 Championship in 2015, the U21 title in 2019, and a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Along the way, he worked with Rodri, Fabián Ruiz, Mikel Merino, and Unai Simón as teenagers.
When the RFEF promoted him after Luis Enrique's exit following Spain's last-16 loss to Morocco at the 2022 World Cup, they weren't installing a fresh face. They were handing the senior job to the coach who had spent a decade building the group. That's a different proposition entirely.
His own playing career — 254 La Liga appearances as a left-back for Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla, two league titles including the 1984 double — gave him credibility in the dressing room. But it was the youth work that gave him the relationships no outside hire could have replicated.
The controversies that couldn't derail him
De La Fuente's time in charge has not been clean of federation politics. In September 2023, days after then-RFEF president Luis Rubiales forcibly kissed Jenni Hermoso during the Women's World Cup medal ceremony, De La Fuente was filmed applauding Rubiales at an emergency assembly where the president refused to step down. He apologised within days, calling his actions "inexcusable."
He was called as a witness at Rubiales' criminal trial in February 2025, where he denied knowledge of federation efforts to manage the fallout. Rubiales was convicted. De La Fuente was never accused of wrongdoing beyond that applause, and his squad's loyalty never appeared to waver.
Midfielder Álex Baena, who came through De La Fuente's youth setups, put it plainly: "Luis always gives us that calm, that confidence we need in every moment." That kind of trust doesn't come from a pre-tournament speech. It's built over years.
One other footnote worth registering: Argentina's World Cup-winning manager Lionel Scaloni once studied under De La Fuente during a UEFA coaching course in Spain. Two students of the same system, two very different paths to the top of the game's biggest stage.
De La Fuente told reporters after the final he's holding Cucurella to that tattoo promise — but requested it go somewhere "not visible." At this point, given what he's won, Cucurella probably owes him the prominent spot.
