Luis de la Fuente to Remain Spain's Head Coach Through 2030

Some decisions build up for months, and others get dropped almost casually at a soccer business conference, only to carry far more weight than expected. That's exactly what happened this Wednesday in Madrid: the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, Rafael Louzán, confirmed that Luis de la Fuente will remain in charge of the Spanish national team through at least 2030, extending the contract that had previously tied him to La Roja only until 2028.

The announcement came during the second and final day of the World Football Summit (WFS), held at La Nave in Madrid. Louzán didn't hold back, saying the final details of the agreement are being ironed out and that he doesn't even rule out the relationship extending beyond that date. "Maybe a bit more," he hinted, without going into specifics on timelines or final figures.

What matters most here is that this renewal places De la Fuente right at the finish line of one of the most ambitious cycles in Spanish soccer history: the 2030 World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by Spain, Morocco and Portugal. Spain will arrive there as the reigning world champion, carrying both the burden and the excitement of defending the title on home soil.

Recognition backed by numbers

Louzán didn't hold back the praise for the Basque coach. He called him "the best national team manager in history given the titles that back him up," noting that De la Fuente has won a World Cup, a European Championship and a Nations League title at the helm of the national side. But the federation president went beyond the trophy case, also highlighting his personality, his work ethic and the effectiveness with which he's managed the group, along with the stability he's brought to the national team in recent years.

That support also translated into a financial commitment. As Louzán explained, De la Fuente wasn't among the ten highest-paid national team coaches in the world, something the federation decided to fix.

The Spanish public loves him and admires him. I offered him the chance to extend and improve his contract, which made sense, because he wasn't in the top ten in terms of financial conditions. And he will be. We're finalizing the deal to keep him around for several more years.Rafael Louzán

De la Fuente, 65, has been in charge of Spain since December 2022. In that time, he went from a coach surrounded by doubts to the man who lifted both the World Cup and the European Championship with the same generation of players, a rare feat that goes a long way toward explaining the renewed trust the federation is now placing in him.

Louzán said he's convinced the Basque coach can close out his career right where he's experienced his best moments as a manager. "May he round off his professional career where he's reaped the best moments and the most important successes of his sporting life," the president said, making clear the federation's vision is for De la Fuente to end his run as national team coach exactly where he began building it: with La Roja.