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The man who just doesn’t believe in the stars
The Spanish national team is no longer just one of the most popular candidates to win the 2026 World Cup, but has become a complete model of a team that knows exactly who it is, how it wants to play and what it wants to achieve. Less than two years after winning the European Cup of Nations, La Roja is on the brink of a historic feat of combining the European and world titles at the same time, a feat achieved by only three teams in history: West Germany in 1974, France in 2000 and Spain in 2010.
Coach Luis de la Fuente has led this project with remarkable consistency, having succeeded in turning Spain into one of the most consistent teams in the world since taking over in January 2023, with just three defeats to go on an astonishing 35-match unbeaten run before facing Belgium in the World Cup quarter-finals.
But the secret of De La Fuente’s success is not only in plans or numbers and statistics, but in an integrated philosophy that combines the human aspect, collective discipline and a footballing identity that has been established in Spanish football for decades.
A project that started many years ago
Although de la Fuente is only in his fourth year as coach of the first national team, his real project began many years before that at the Spanish Football Federation, where he has worked since 2013 as coach of various national teams.
In those years, his role was not limited to developing the players technically, but also contributed to instilling a common culture and a clear identity in the new generations, which facilitated the transition of many of them to the first team, which carries the same principles on and off the pitch.
That’s why the Spanish coach didn’t need to build a completely new blueprint after taking over, but rather found a solid base on which to work to develop and add his own touches, according to reports. British Broadcasting CorporationBBC:“.
De la Fuente is convinced that football, before being a tactical game, is a human game. That is why he always repeats his famous phrase: “Football is a team sport created by good people.”
The word “good” doesn’t just mean his morals, although his personal and religious values are clearly reflected in his style, but rather a player who puts the team’s interest above his own, sacrifices for his teammates, supports everyone, and has discipline and a willingness to give.
He confirms that everyone who lives in the dressing room knows well the value of this type of player, just as he knows the danger of having a player who sows division and is always looking for individual heroism.
The Spanish coach, thanks to his long experience, has come to the clear conviction that talent alone does not make a champion team, but rather requires a healthy environment dominated by cooperation, trust and mutual respect.
Identity does not change
For years, Spanish football has been synonymous with possession, passing and intelligent movement, but De La Fuente sees these elements as a reflection of collective culture rather than mere tactical details.
For him, passing is not just a way to pass the ball, but a sign of trust between players, and possession is not a goal in itself, but an expression of collective control and harmony within the team.
That is why he preserved the identity of the Spanish national team, but did not turn it into a rigid doctrine, but gave more flexibility in line with the development of modern football.
Many liken De La Fuente’s work to Pep Guardiola’s words about Johan Cruyff when he claimed that some coaches don’t build the temple, but rather paint it.
This description largely applies to the Spanish coach, as he did not destroy the project he inherited, but rather worked to develop it.
It gave the team more ability to switch quickly between defense and attack, added more variety in the final third and made the team more resilient when losing the ball and more flexible in different matchups.
The result is that Spain have become a team with a clear identity, but very difficult to stop.
Easiest to read…and hardest to beat
A member of the Portuguese national team’s technical staff described the Spanish national team as “the easiest team to analyze but the most difficult team to defeat” after the match between the two teams. This description may seem contradictory, but it reflects the reality of the Spanish project.
Spain does not hide its style and everyone knows that it will try to control the ball, press, make quick passes, but knowing the idea does not mean being able to stop it. This is because players have been trained with these principles for many years and applying them has become part of their football personality.
Despite being true to identity, De La Fuente doesn’t approach meetings with a fixed mindset. It relies on a thorough analysis of each competitor and works with its technical staff to review every detail after each match to correct errors and make necessary adjustments.
When the Spanish national team lacked passing accuracy against Cape Verde, the technical staff worked to quickly solve this problem, so that the team appeared completely different in the next game against Saudi Arabia.
As for the confrontation with Uruguay, the coach focused more on mental than tactical, because he knows that the Spanish national team lost many times when they got carried away by provocations and lost their composure.
Lesson learned from defeats
De la Fuente admits that his current experience is the result of mistakes made in the past. He admits to dealing with more emotion in his early years, but has learned over time that some matches are not decided by skill alone, but rather by the ability to control nerves.
He believes that the most dangerous thing that can happen to his team is to give up his identity and be drawn into the chaos of the opponent, because it forces the players to lose their core strengths. That’s why he always makes sure to remind his players that mental discipline is just as important as tactical discipline.
De La Fuente’s influence is not limited to the field, but extends to the players, the media and everyone who works with the national team. He always addresses journalists by name, looks directly at the person he is talking to, and believes that respect begins with knowing the person standing in front of you.
He also uses psychologists and media experts from the Spanish federation to prepare press conferences, but he always prefers to speak spontaneously when the situation calls for it. He stresses that these actions are not part of a media strategy, but rather reflect his true personality.
Lamin Yamal.. Managing talent before you invest in it
De La Fuente recognizes that having a player of Lamin Yamal’s caliber is a great blessing, but also a great responsibility. That’s why he treated the young star very calmly, especially after returning from an injury that kept him out of the tournament for two months.
He didn’t ask her to perform miracles from day one, but rather gave her confidence and gradually developed a plan to get her back to her best. The Spanish coach believes that the current stage represents the moment when Yamal should start imposing himself on the biggest football platform in the world.
In De La Fuente’s eyes, Lamine Yamal’s best games weren’t the ones where he dazzled fans with dribbles or goals.
Rather, he believes that his match against Portugal was the most important, as it showed his development as a team player who presses without the ball, sacrifices himself for the team and makes the right decisions in the most difficult moments.
From his point of view, a great player doesn’t just make the difference when he has the ball at his feet, but also when he serves the group in every detail of the match.
Oyarzabal…a hero who doesn’t seek the limelight
De la Fuente’s constant praise of Mikel Oyarzabal reveals much about his philosophy. The Spanish coach describes him as one of the five best straight forwards in the world, although he does not enjoy the reputation that many stars enjoy.
He confirms that the player deserved international recognition years ago, but he continued to quietly work and give everything he had for the team, which is the model De La Fuente prefers in the dressing room.
De La Fuente applies a philosophy of discipline not only to his players, but to himself as well. He wants to exercise every day to maintain his fitness and believes that success is not achieved by a temporary rush, but by continuity and daily commitment.
He describes himself as a person who does not know how to stop, and admits that his friends sometimes describe him as “exhausted” due to constant activity and constant striving for development. For him, great achievements come not from a fleeting moment of inspiration, but rather from the accumulation of work, discipline and dedication over many years.
The Spanish team enters the finals of the World Cup and has all the ingredients to fight for the title. A clear identity, a coach who knows his players by heart, a group that combines experience and youth, and a philosophy that doesn’t change with the change of opponents.
De La Fuente may not be the most famous coach in the world, but he has managed to build a team that everyone talks about more on the pitch than off it.
As the World Cup approaches its decisive stage, Spain is closer than ever to writing a new chapter in its history and achieving an achievement that will place this generation alongside the greatest generations football has ever known, proving that true success is not only created by plans, but by identity, confidence, teamwork and the belief that the team will always be bigger than any star.
