Santi Denia, new Spanish U-21 coach

The new stage that has opened in the Spanish team after the World Cup in Qatar goes beyond Luis Enrique’s goodbye and his replacement by Luis de la Fuente. The rise of the coach from La Rioja to the absolute has shaken the panorama of the lower categories, whose new organization chart was announced this Monday by the Spanish Football Federation (FEF).

Santi Denia becomes the new U-21 coach, a position that had become vacant after the appointment of Luis de la Fuente for the absolute team and that now falls to a coach with extensive experience in the Ciudad del Fútbol de Las Rozas who until the date he had been serving as helmsman of the sub-19.

It is, therefore, a foreseeable jump in the ranking that does not occur, on the other hand, in the case of Julen Guerrero. The Basque will remain in command of the under-17 team, whose helm has been held by the former Athletic footballer since June 2020, when the Portugalete man replaced David Gordo. That position of U-19 coach will be held from now on by José Lana, who will make this position compatible with the management of the U-16 and U-15 teams, which he had already been in charge of.

Change in the management model

The lower categories of the Spanish team will have Vicente Engonga as assistant coach. Carlos Rivera will work as a physical trainer and Antonio Gómez Díaz also joins the project as a physical trainer. Juan Carlos Arévalo will carry out the functions of goalkeeper coach and Héctor Rincón and Alberto de la Fuente form the team of analysts, according to the FEF.

The Federation, which emphasizes that all the technicians who will be responsible for the lower categories of the Spanish team have proven experience and quality that have weighed when establishing the restructuring with a new management model in the sports field , affects that Francis Hernández, coordinator of the lower categories of the selection, will also have a leading role in the absolute, since he will be Albert Luque’s assistant. Vicente Blanco Sánchez ‘Tito’ will work as Francis Hernández’s assistant, who will bring his extensive management experience to the lower categories of the Spanish team.