Luis de la Fuente Calls for Ballon d'Or Recognition for Spanish Footballers
Luis de la Fuente is done whispering about Spanish football. He wants the Ballon d'Or back in Spanish hands — and he is saying it out loud.
With the ceremony set for October 26, the Spain coach used a prime-time appearance on El Larguero to launch a full-throated defence of his players. Spain have 26 nominees across the different categories this year, a remarkable show of strength. For De la Fuente, it still is not enough.
He believes the game’s biggest individual prize has drifted too far from the players who, in his eyes, understand football better than anyone.
“It has to be won by a Spaniard, because they are the best in the world in many aspects, including their understanding of the game. The Spanish footballer is an almost, almost perfect player,” he argued, pointing to what he sees as a long-running reluctance to reward that excellence. “They have made more than enough merits this year… And it seems that it is difficult to give that recognition to our players.”
Yamal, Mbappé and a changing of the guard
The global narrative has already seized on one name: Lamine Yamal. The Barcelona prodigy has put himself in the same bracket as Kylian Mbappé, a statement that would have sounded outrageous not long ago. Now it lands differently. It sounds like ambition backed by performance.
Asked whether he would have dared such a claim in his own playing days, De la Fuente did not move to rein the teenager in. He backed him.
“I think you have to see in what context it is said,” he explained. “And I think Lamine says it simply because he has made enough merits, just like Mbappé. They are two players with a different touch and who, in the coming years, respecting others, will mark football. It does not seem like a lack of respect to me that they say they have made merits to win it.”
For De la Fuente, Yamal and Real Madrid’s new superstar Mbappé are not just marketing tools or social-media phenomena. They are the present and the future of the sport at the very top. One in blaugrana, one in white, both central to the story he believes is being written in Spain.
Forgotten pillars: Fabián, Oyarzabal, Pedri
But the Spain manager is not interested in a Ballon d'Or race reduced to two poster boys. He sees a deeper injustice.
While the spotlight falls on Mbappé and Yamal, he insists that other key figures from his title-winning national team are being quietly pushed to the margins of the global conversation. One name in particular keeps coming back: Fabián Ruiz.
The Paris Saint-Germain midfielder, a metronome and match-winner for Spain, rarely makes the same headlines as the forwards. De la Fuente bristles at that.
When asked to choose between Rodri and Lamine Yamal for the main award, he immediately widened the lens: “And Fabián, whom we always forget about,” he said, underlining how central the PSG man has been to Spain’s success.
He then moved to another omission that irritates him. “The other day I said that I missed Mikel Oyarzabal, who at the very least should be among the 30, to recognize the talent of a fantastic footballer and who has been the top scorer for the world champion national team.”
Those are not throwaway lines. For De la Fuente, these details should weigh heavily in the voting. Goals for a world champion. Influence in decisive matches. Contribution to a collective triumph.
“These things at the moment must be put in value, regardless of whether they later win it or not,” he added. The surprise does not stop there. “I am also surprised that Pedri is not there, but of those who are, I do not bet on any one of them. Whoever wins it, of the Spanish footballers, I will be very happy.”
He is not campaigning for a single chosen one. He is campaigning for a generation.
A goalkeeping factory at the top of the world
The numbers in attack may be debated. The situation in goal, he feels, is beyond argument.
Spain’s three World Cup goalkeepers — Unai Simón, David Raya and Joan García — are all nominated for the positional trophy. For any other nation, that would be an anomaly. For Spain, De la Fuente presents it as proof of a long-standing reality.
“Let’s bet on what is ours and value it,” he urged. “I believe that the Ballon d'Or should be won by a Spaniard, of course. In the same way that, in the trophy for goalkeepers, it is a privilege that we have the three goalkeepers from the World Cup nominated. And we have always said that among the five best goalkeepers in the world there are always three Spaniards, at the very least.”
That is the core of his message. Spain, in his view, no longer just produces elegant midfielders and ball-playing defenders. It dominates every line, including the one position historically associated with other countries.
The coach has thrown down a challenge to the voters: recognise the collective dominance, not just the highlight reels. On October 26, the world will discover whether football’s most prestigious award is ready to follow the path of the game itself — back towards a Spanish accent.
