Luis de la Fuente Biography

Spanish football player and coach of the Spanish national football team since 2022.

Footballer Jul 27, 2024 0 35 Add to Reading List

Name	Luis de la Fuente Castillo
Parents	Berta Castillo and Alberto de la Fuente
Position as a player	Left back
Debut as a player	1978 (Bilbao Athletic)
Coaching debut	1994 (Deportivo Alavés)
Children	3
Height	5' 6"

Luis de la Fuente was born on June 21, 1961 in Haro , La Rioja, Spain.

Family:

Luis mother named Berta Castillo’s and his father Alberto de la Fuente rumbled around in merchant navy ships before moving to Bilbao as an Athletic Club member who constantly took Luis to see matches at San Mamés.

Career as a player:

Luis began his career as a footballer at Haro Deportivo. In 1977, he joined Athletic Club ’s youth system after being discovered by Piru Gaínza. He made his debut for the club on 29 November 1978, scoring his first goal in a draw against Barakaldo in a Cup match.

He continued to play for the youth team during that season and was promoted to Bilbao Athletic in the 1979–80 season under Javier Clemente. He made his first-team debut on 8 October 1980 in a Cup match against Castro. He alternated between the first team and the reserve team for two seasons until establishing himself in the first squad in 1982–83, where he won two League titles in his first two full seasons, playing as a left back.

In 1987, after seven seasons at Athletic, he signed for Sevilla FC , where he was a starter for the first two seasons but his participation decreased in the following two. In 1991, he returned to Athletic Club. After two seasons with little participation, he moved to Deportivo Alavés in Segunda División B, where he retired in 1994.

During his career, he played 254 games in the Primera Division ,10 UEFA Cups and three European Cups. He also featured four times for Under-21 between ’82-’84, and once for the Olympic team in ’88.

Coaching career:

Luis del la Fuente started to be a trainer in 1997 at Club Portugalete; this lasted for three years. Later, he became a coach of Aurrera de Vitoria in Segunda B, although they gave him the sack after twenty-nine matches with the team in eighth place.

In 2001, he signed up in Sevilla FC youth team for four seasons and among others players like Sergio Ramos.

In the 2005–06 season, he moved to Athletic Club to manage the youth team, finishing the campaign in second position. The following year, Elejalde took over Bilbao Athletic in Segunda División B and finished fifteenth. After his absence as an Athletic Club delegate , He came back as Bilbao Athletic manager during 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.

July 2011 saw him hired as Deportivo Alavés’ coach in Segunda B but was sacked by October when Galdiz had found themselves in eighth place.

Spanish selection:

Having joined the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) in May of 2013 as their junior team handler, they have since won various tournaments including U19 European Championship which happened in 2015 and a gold medal at Mediterranean Games held in 2018 within the U18 squad. On July twenty-fourth two thousand and eighteen , he was appointed head coach of Spain U21s winning UEFA European Under-21 Championship two thousand nineteen together with other championships.

The coaching staff named him as national boss for a friendly against Lithuania on June eighth twenty-twenty-one due to Luis Enrique’s non-appearance caused by COVID-19 quarantine protocol; Spain won it four nil. On 18 December 2022, following the resignation of Luis Enrique, he was given charge of Spain’s national football team with a contract till Euro twenty twenty-four.

On June four two thousand and four , RFEF declared their agreement for him to remain until the World Cup 2026.

Spain won its fourth Euro Cup on Sunday 14 July 2024. The National Team beat England thanks to goals from Nico Williams and Oyarzabal , who had broken Palmer 's tie. This was a highly competitive match of which they triumphed under Luis de la Fuente.

Private life of Luis:

He is married and has three children, one of whom is Alberto de la Fuente, an analyst for the national team's youth teams.

Summary:

Spanish football manager who has been in charge of the Spanish under 21 team since 2022 and the senior team since 2022. He also had a brilliant career as a player before he became coach. In 2013, he joined RFEF where his achievements included winning the European Under-19 Championship in addition to claiming gold medal at Mediterranean Games in 2018.