Last night (September 12), Real Madrid suddenly announced the head coach. The chosen person is the current coach of the Spanish national team, Mr. Julen Lopetegui.
This is shocking news because Lopetegui was never considered a candidate to replace Zidane at the Bernabeu. Along with that, the 51-year-old coach is holding a position at the National Assembly Delegation participating in the 2018 World Cup campaign.
Lopetegui's contract with the Spanish Football Federation runs until 2020. Having moved to Real Madrid after the World Cup and signed for 3 years, Lopetegui was forced to unilaterally cancel his contract with the DTQG and accept compensation. Of course, Los Blancos have taken care of everything.
It was thought everything was going smoothly but the news of lightning has arrived. At 9:30 a.m. this morning (June 13, local time), the Spanish Football Federation held an urgent meeting to discuss the future of the head coach. Notably, the option of sacking Lopetegui before the 2018 World Cup is optional, even though the tournament is only 1 day away from the meeting.
The reason given by Federation President Luis Rubles is that Lopetegui's acceptance of Real Madrid is not wrong, but announcing it before the World Cup is an insult, which could directly affect the result of the national team in Russia.
The above urgent meeting took place how and if anyone attended, everything was kept secret. There was information that it had been postponed and people just discussed it with each other.
However, there was a meeting that was held, which was a frank conversation between coach Julen Lopetegui, President Luis Rubles and the Federation's sporting director - Mr. Fernando herero.
After the meeting, the Spanish Federation of Labor officially announced: National Coach Julen Lopetegui was fired when the 2018 World Cup was just one day away.
"We have decided to fire the head coach of the National Championship. What the team has up to this point is partly due to the efforts of Mr. Lopetegui. Therefore, we thank him and wish him luck.
Real Madrid need a coach for them, this is very good and I will not discuss it. However, the Federation's story is to represent the country, represent all the people of Spain," said Mr. Luis Rubles.
It is not ruled out that former player Hierro will replace Lopetegui on the evening of June 13. Although this was an adventurous and unprecedented act. However, the Head Coach of the National Assembly has never accepted a club before the World Cup.
With Lopetegui leaving La Roja, his crew, including assistants, must also pack up immediately. In addition to Hierro, some other candidates are also targeted such as Albert Celades (Spanish U21 team) or Quique Setien (Real Betis club team).
