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Spain coach Luis de la Fuente has won the Ballon d’Or Men’s Coach of the Year award after leading the national team to World Cup glory.
De la Fuente received the award on Monday at a ceremony in London. He described the honour as a team achievement.
“Teamwork makes us invincible. This is a great honour,” he said.
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He praised his players for putting the team first and credited them for Spain’s success.
“The secret is to work with very generous players that put the team first. We’ve got such an amazing pool of talent, the best in the world, so as a coach I have such a great amount of talent to work with. So this is their success,” he added.
At 65, De la Fuente has taken a different path from many modern coaches who built their reputations as star players. Instead, he worked his way through Spain’s national coaching system.
After his playing career, he had a brief spell in club management. In 2013, he saw an advert from the Spanish Football Federation seeking a youth team coach. He applied and secured the role with Spain’s Under-19 team.
Thirteen years later, several players from that squad have featured in teams he has guided to success in the Nations League, Euro 2024 and the World Cup.
During this summer’s World Cup in the United States, De la Fuente maintained that Spain had the strongest squad in the tournament. He remained confident even after the team opened with a goalless draw against World Cup debutants Cape Verde.
Spain improved as the tournament progressed. They then beat pre-tournament favourites France 2-0 in the semi-final.
In a closely contested final against Lionel Messi’s Argentina in New Jersey, Spain stayed composed despite Argentina’s physical approach. Ferran Torres scored the winning goal to secure a 1-0 victory.
Meanwhile, Barcelona coach Pere Romeu won the women’s Coach of the Year award. He was recognised for leading the club to four titles: the Spanish league, Spanish Cup, Spanish Super Cup and Champions League.
