Spain fires coach a day to World Cup Kick off, see reason

Spain sacked coach Julen Lopetegui just two days before the team’s opening game against Portugal at the World Cup, Spanish football federation chief Luis Rubiales

confirmed on Wednesday.

In a surprise announcement on Tuesday, Real Madrid named Lopetegui as their next manager to start work after the tournament in Russia, sparking outrage among the federation and Spanish fans at the timing of the announcement.

At a severely delayed press conference at Spain’s World Cup base in Krasnodar, Rubiales appeared to say he felt Lopetegui’s decision to join Madrid so close to the start of the tournament “obliged” him to take drastic action.

“I am here to say that we feel obliged to sack the national team manager,” said Rubiales.

Lopetegui had signed a contract extension until 2020 just last month and Rubiales is reportedly angry at only being informed of his decision to join Real minutes before the European champions made the announcement public.