Fernando Hierro to coach Spain at 2018 FIFA World Cup

World
Europe

Spain's Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has announced on Wednesday that the country's legendary player Fernando Hierro was appointed as the new manager of their men's national football team for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

In less than two hours after the governing body fired former manager Julen Lopetegui, Hierro took over, such a risky move by the RFEF considering their team is about to meet the first, and the biggest rival, Portugal, in Group B in two days.

Julen Lopetegui /VCG Photo

La Liga's Real Madrid CF was blamed for the crazy move. The three-consecutive-European-Champion-League winner suddenly announced on Tuesday that it signed a three-year contract with Lopetegui, who will lead the club after the World Cup.

The RFEF was furious about the news and delayed the press conference twice. In the end, they made the decision of sacking Lopetegui. "We thank Julen for everything that he has done, because he is a great person, who is responsible for us being in Russia. However, we must fire him," said RFEF's head Luis Rubiales.

The RFEF said the fact that they were told only five minutes before Real Madrid made the announcement was unacceptable. "I understand that Real Madrid want to have the best of coaches but the national team belongs to all of Spain and this is not the way to do things," said Rubiales.

Luis Manuel Rubiales, head of the RFEF, talks to the media after the decision to dismiss Julen Lopetegui as coach of the Spanish national side during a press conference ahead of the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 on June 13, 2018 in Krasnodar, Russia. /VCG Photo

Fifty-year-old Fernando Hierro has played for 14 years for Real Madrid and won five La Liga champions and three European Champion League trophies. Having retired in 2007, he worked for the RFEF for four years as the sports manager. After that he went to several teams before returning to the RFEF in 2017 to be sports manager again.

Hierro will hold his first press conference as the new manager later on Wednesday before leading his team to prepare for the game against Portugal.