Julen Lopetegui has been removed as Spain manager a day after it emerged that he had agreed to take over at Real Madrid after the World Cup.

Lopetegui has signed a three-year deal to succeed Zinedine Zidane with the Champions League holders and it was decided that in the circumstances it was inappropriate for him to continue with Spain.

The Spanish Football Association president, Luis Rubiales, was supposed to be at Fifa’s congress in Moscow on Wednesday but flew to Spain’s training base late on Tuesday night to deal with the matter.

We have been forced to dispense with the national coach. We wish him the greatest of luck. The negotiations have occurred without any information to the Spanish FA and we were informed just five minutes before the press release. There’s a way to act that needs to be fulfilled. said Rubiales.

Suddenly, Spain is not favourites anymore. You don't just get a new coach, or get the interim to coach at high level game in only 2 days. There is also the group of people who work for the coach, who are all going away with him. The blow will be bigger than people think.

If I'm not mistaken, Julen just renewed his contract with Spain last month. Days after, he decides to go to Real Madrid. All while not saying a single word to anyone. Well, fuck work ethics, I guess.

Arsene wenger, we want you to coach.
we want you to coach
we want you to coach
Arsene wenger, we want you to coach.

lol, spanish fa making silly decision. I understand it is rude to display fake commitment but 1 day before wc is just purely emotional decision. wenger can use this opportunity to redeem himself again.

@the_bald_genius Arsene does speak Spanish, so it helps. But I doubt any contract can be made in only one day. Spain will probably go through the tournament with the interim.

@kirsi true tho, hard to say about one day contract. interim manager smh ...

The most insane move by the Spainish fa. So unprofessional. What will happen if Spain are out from group stages like last time? Pandemonium at the Spanish FA office...

Kubala was Spain coach at Euro 1980 - announced pre-tournament he was leaving to take over at Barcelona - Spain finished bottom of group with one point.

Such a big shock to players, they won't do well IMO. He was very well-liked and good coach, honestly you can kinda understand Spanish FA but it is still ridiculous how whole situation turned out.

I don't understand why Real announced him so early. They could have waited till after the WC to say it and everything would have been ok.

Fernando Hierro is the new manager for the team. Anyway, this whole scenario is pretty damn bad. The player and the fan are shocked and it will be very hard for the team to produce as good as expected in the situation. Technically speaking, this could be a great chance for Portugal to get top of their group.

Anyway, I don't know who's fault it is, the Spanish FA or Real, but it doesn't matter right now, what matter is that Spain will need to work really hard now and that this will be a more complicated competition for them.

What the hell is going on..

I've read enough about the story to conclude that it was the right thing to do.

2 key issues here. The biggest problem is the way the information was handled. RM making it oficial at this stage of the WC and Did Lopetegui knew about this officialization by Madrid? If so he is just dumb to think he wouldn't get any backlash.

I first thought it was the dumbest decision ever but now after reading more into it I think Spain did what had to be done. You can't play around with such an important position like that.

once again, I try to tell myself I'm not a hater but... F* Real Madrid. They just can't handle not being the center of attention for 1 F**MONTH! sigh...

This changes a lot.. predictions, people "investing" a ton of money on bets and stuff like that. Spain being one of the top 3 teams to win the WC on odds all around the betting world now would probably plummet. Hell, even I had Spain reaching the final vs Brasil...

Not happy at all with this issue which could have a big repercussion in the WC..

Hopefully Spain doesn’t qualify and Morocco does instead because they have been given unfair group to compete in

Pure stupidity

Managers do this all the time, Conte announced before Italy's Euro he will leave for Chelsea afterwards. I know the circumstances aren't the same, but the guy was brilliant. Spain was going to be Germany's hugest obstacle and vice versa, now Spain aren't favorites as much.

But let's see, they still haven't played a game yet, the interim may want to put same ideas as sacked manager.

@Marcus2011 I personally disagree, nothing against Morocco, but I would love to see bigger team in the latter stage of the competition. Still, if it ever happened, I would be glad for Benatia, that guy is seriously under-rated.

@Amir Yeah, thats what he seem to have said, he was actually the sportive director of the Spain national team, so he propably know a bit about how the team was run, still think its a pretty crazy move.

Come on SAF one more trophy. XD

I let my emotions get the better of me the first time I read this, but now thinking about it, this is wrong on Real Madrid and Lopetegui's side. It's so wrong for Lopetegui is not inform the FA about his appointment when he already signed an extension with the national team right before. It's disrespectful, and frankly, playing dirty against the FA. Real Madrid on the other hand is classic Real Madrid, getting what they want, and they did Spain a disservice here.