Spain has sacked Luis Enrique following the team’s elimination from the FIFA World Cup with the Spanish FA confirming the news on its website.
The country’s under-21 manager Luis de la Fuente has been named as his replacement in the role.
Luis Enrique, who was appointed in 2018, had a contract until the end of the year.
“The RFEF has chosen Luis de la Fuente as the new (Spain) coach,” RFEF said in a statement.
“The … RFEF has delivered to the president a report in which it determined that a new project should start for the Spain national team, with the aim of continuing the growth achieved in recent years thanks to the work carried out by Luis Enrique (and the staff).
“Both the RFEF president Luis Rubiales and sports director, Jose Francisco Molina have informed Luis Enrique of the decision. The RFEF would like to thank Luis Enrique and his entire coaching staff for the work done in the last few years.”
Despite a brilliant start to their World Cup campaign – Spain, one of the favourites to win the tournament – crashed out after losing to Morocco on penalties in their pre-quarterfinal.
Enrique took full responsibility for the loss, blaming his own negligence for the defeat.
He becomes the fourth manager to be let go after their teams were eliminated at the World Cup in Qatar.
De la Fuente, meanwhile, is familiar with most of the crop of Spanish players having already coached Marco Asensio, Unai Simon, Eric Garcia, Pau Torres, Pedri, Carlos Soler and Dani Olmo when they were younger.
The 61-year-old joined the RFEF in 2013 as the under-15 manager and has the job to take Spain back to its glory days.
