The Spanish Football Association have terminated Julen Lopetegui’s contract with immediate effect after the manager was announced as the new Real Madrid manager.
There has been an official confirmation that the Spanish Football Association have decided to terminate Julen Lopetegui’s contract to serve as the manager of the National Football Team with immediate effect. The news comes shortly after confirmation of the former Barcelona player’s appointment as the new Real Madrid manager.
Real Madrid have been looking for a new head coach after Zinedine Zidane decided to walk away from the managerial post, not before leading Real Madrid to a three-peat of the UEFA Champions League. Many names were tossed into the hat, with the likes of Jurgen Klopp, Antonio Conte and even Michael Laudrup doing the rounds.
But, as the dust settled, Real Madrid announced Julen Lopetegui as the new manager to take over the reins at the club. The news was met with heavy criticism and soon, the Spanish Football Association decided to take a stringent action by sacking the newly appointed Los Blancos head coach.
While there is no official confirmation of what led to all this, there are reports that the Spanish FA was in the dark about the negotiations between Lopetegui and Real Madrid. The manager broke the news of his appointment just minutes before Real Madrid officially announced the news to the media.
Real Madrid’s announcement just two days prior to the start of the World Cup is far from ideal. But, according to unconfirmed reports, the club had not planned to announce the same before the World Cup, with just the Real Madrid players being made aware of the decision.
But, the non-Real Madrid players within the Spanish squad for the World Cup somehow caught wind of the news, which began spreading, with several reports emerging in the media as well.
Amidst all of this, it is reported that Julen Lopetegui asked Real Madrid to confirm the appointment in order to avoid unsettling of the players within the National squad.
But, the Spanish FA has been forced to take the decision over the lack of respect and professionalismshown to the Board by negotiating without any prior information.
Fernando Hierro will take over from the new Real Madrid manager as the head coach for the World Cup.
The Football Association have been forced to make a change and it will be interesting to see how these developments affect the squad and Spain’s journey at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.