LONDON – Luis de la Fuente won the Ballon d’Or for men’s coach of the year on Oct 26 after leading Spain to World Cup glory.

“Teamwork makes us invincible. This is a great honour,” de la Fuente said after collecting the award at a ceremony in London.

“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.”

In an age of coaches who were previously star players, 65-year-old de la Fuente stands out as a technician who worked his way up through the national coaching ranks in Spain.

After a solid career as a player led to an undistinguished stint in club coaching, he was flicking through the sports pages in 2013 when he saw an advert placed by the Spanish Football Federation for a youth team coach.

He applied, got the job with Spain’s Under-19s, and 13 years later some of the players from that squad were part of the teams he has led to victory in the Nations League, Euro 2024 and then the World Cup.

De la Fuente insisted from the start in the United States this summer that he had the strongest squad in the tournament, even when they stumbled to a goalless draw against World Cup debutants Cape Verde in their opening match.

They built momentum with each match and dispatched one of the pre-tournament favourites, France, in a clinical 2-0 win in the semi-final.

In a tight final against Lionel Messi’s Argentina in New Jersey, de la Fuente’s men kept their cool in the face of muscular tactics from the opposition and Ferran Torres smashed in the winning goal for a 1-0 victory.

“This is recognition for a job very well done over many years,” de la Fuente told AFP.

“I believe Spanish football, both in terms of coaching and the game itself, serves as an example of excellent youth development, which ultimately paves the way for future success.”

The women’s coaching award also went to a Spaniard as Barcelona’s Pere Romeu was rewarded for masterminding a season in which they won the Spanish league, Spanish cup, Super Cup and Champions League. AFP