In the Spanish national team - turmoil: with only a day left before the start of the 2018 World Cup, the Spanish Football Federation announced the dismissal of Julen Lopetegui from his coaching duties.
The 51-year-old strategist, who led the national team to victories in the last two years, fell out of favor with the federation after he was announced as the coach of the "Real" team in Madrid.
The capital team of Spain officially announced yesterday that the negotiations were terminated, and the coach himself was supposed to join the team after the championship. J. Lopetegui's arrival in Madrid will happen much sooner - a decision that the federation made without understanding such a choice.
Not long ago, Luis Rubiales, who became the president of the Spanish Football Federation, announced today at a press conference that he found out about the negotiations led by J. Lopetegui with the "Real" club only five minutes before the information was made public.
However, on the same evening when the federation's website announced J. Lopetegui's agreement with "Real," a different statement was written on the official Spanish Football Federation website: "The Federation has been informed all along about the negotiations with Lopetegui from the 'Real' club."
A completely different version was presented at the press conference this morning. In the same statement, it was written that "the federation wishes Lopetegui the greatest success in his new career stage, but asks for maximum focus before the upcoming first World Cup match against Portugal".
This message didn't show any signs that Spain would dismiss J. Lopetegui ahead of time. However, the Spanish media noticed one essential detail - today this announcement was changed, and both paragraphs mentioning Lopetegui and "Real" were simply deleted.
It is no secret that the management of the "Real" team in Madrid has poor relations with the Spanish Football Federation. In the public space, there is still talk that the Spanish Football Federation is divided into an "anti-Madridista" campaign.
Many members of the Spanish Football Federation's board of directors were not upset by the fact that Lopetegui signed a contract with the club just a few days before the tournament. Rather, they were upset that he agreed with the "Real" in Madrid.
After J. Lopetegui's dismissal, the Spanish radio COPE revealed another interesting detail - the president of the federation, L. Rubiales, who met with the coach this morning, told him, "I renewed a two-year contract with you [as the Spanish NT manager], even though I knew you didn't vote for me [in the FA presidential elections]."
It is speculated that in this situation, L. Rubiales had personal grudges both against "Real" and against J. Lopetegui himself. Interestingly, almost the entire team tried to convince the president not to fire the coach, and the current team manager Fernando Hierro also contributed to this plea.
However, the newly appointed president could not be persuaded, and a significant scandal has shaken Spanish football just before the start of the World Cup.
J. Lopetegui, who has incurred the wrath of a huge cloud of Spanish football fans, has returned to Madrid. He is expected to be presented as the new coach of "Real" tomorrow.
