Spain won the World Cup for the second time in the nation’s history Sunday, and Coach Luis de la Fuente says the run was carried as much by unity as by talent.
“There are not just one, but a thousand reasons to believe in God,” de la Fuente told Spanish newspaper El Mundo back in 2023. “Without God, nothing in life makes sense.”
Ferran Torres scored the winning goal in the 106th minute Sunday, breaking a scoreless deadlock against defending champion Argentina, who’d been reduced to 10 men after a red card. It was Spain’s second World Cup title, and much like the first one in 2010, it took extra time to get there.
De la Fuente, 65, became the oldest coach ever to win a World Cup. He was quick afterward to point the credit away from himself.
“Proud of this generation of footballers that have been growing on this idea — loyal to the idea — of giving our best, being an example of a team, a family,” de la Fuente said on the field after the final. “Especially I feel proud, because truthfully, being able to accompany them on this journey, for me, it’s an honor.”
Torres echoed that sentiment when reporters asked about his game-winning goal.
“It was a goal scored by 47 million people,” Torres said, via Reuters. “It wasn’t even mine or from the 26 players.”
Related: USMNT Scores Again … But Not in the Way You Think
Spain’s path to the title wasn’t flashy at the start — a scoreless draw with Cape Verde opened the tournament — but La Roja found its footing, winning Group H before methodically eliminating Austria, Portugal, Belgium, and pre-tournament favorite France. The team conceded just one goal across all eight matches, and eight different players found the scoresheet along the way, a testament to the collective approach de la Fuente has built since taking over as Spain’s coach in December 2022.
That approach, an evolution of Spain’s famed “tiki-taka” style built on quick passing and constant movement, has now delivered a Euro 2024 title and a World Cup, with Spain unbeaten in 38 straight matches, a record for a European or South American nation.
De la Fuente’s faith shows up in how he talks about the pressure of it all. Before Spain’s semifinal against France, reporters asked about his pregame routine.
“I pray every day, but not because I’m at the World Cup or trying to get a result,” he told reporters, via News Nation. “I think it would be unfair to ask God to help me and not help my rival. I ask for other things, good health especially. And that He gives me the opportunity to continue fighting.”
He added that gratitude is a fixture of those prayers, too.
“Every day when I get up, I thank God that I’m well,” he said. “I look at myself and I say, ‘Another day that I can enjoy life.'”
That faith wasn’t always steady. De la Fuente has said he drifted from the Christian faith of his youth at one point, unsettled by doubts, before finding his way back.
“I decided to draw closer to faith again and rely on God for everything I do,” he told El Mundo in 2023.
Ahead of Spain’s Euro 2024 final win over England, he was asked how faith factors into competition at the highest level.
“I am free and I can choose what I have to do, and both my experience and my intelligence invite me to believe in God,” he said, via Evangelical Focus. “God gives me security and strength. If I pray today and tomorrow, it’s because I’ve been doing it for a long time.”
Now de la Fuente carries a second World Cup title into whatever those prayers come next, a reminder that for him, the trophy and the faith behind it were never separate pursuits.
Read Next: USMNT Goalkeeper Has a Role to Play in God’s Kingdom
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
